Georgia group sues over OpenAI data center deal in Effingham County

by Summer Swanson

EFFINGHAM COUNTY, Ga. (WTOC) - A conservation group and five Effingham County residents are suing local officials, saying they broke Georgia’s open government laws to secretly push through a massive OpenAI data center deal.

The lawsuit, filed Monday in Effingham County Superior Court, names the Effingham County Industrial Development Authority and Octans GA, an OpenAI affiliate, as defendants. Plaintiffs include One Hundred Miles, Inc., along with residents Amy Collins, Robert Collins, Elizabeth Fisher, Crystal Hayes and Manjusha Sheobaran.

“Despite the project’s profound effects on Effingham County residents, the Development Authority negotiated and executed the deal in complete secrecy, only revealing it after it was, in the words of one Development Authority official, a ‘done deal,’” reads the lawsuit.

What the deal involves

The Development Authority announced the project July 22, unveiling plans for a 3.2 gigawatt, 1,440-acre, 4.4 million-square-foot data center. According to the lawsuit, it would be the largest data center in the Southeast and comes with nearly $900 million in tax abatements.

SEE: OpenAI announces plans for a new data center campus in Effingham County

The secrecy claims

The lawsuit alleges the authority negotiated with OpenAI for months under a nondisclosure agreement signed in October 2025, all while telling the public it wasn’t recruiting any data centers.

According to the lawsuit, the authority:

Rescheduled its July meeting at the last minute without giving the legally required week’s notice
Listed the project on its agenda only under the code name “Project Gateway,” with no other description
Discussed the tax abatement deal behind closed doors in a non-public executive session
Sold roughly 1,440 acres of land to OpenAI’s affiliate without a public vote on the terms

The complaint alleges the authority also failed to turn over public records about the land sale despite repeated requests from the plaintiffs’ attorneys in August.

“These Open Meetings Act violations meant that Plaintiffs and the broader public had no advance knowledge of or say in one of the most consequential decisions in the history of Effingham County,” reads the lawsuit.

What officials reportedly said

The lawsuit quotes Development Authority board member Eric Johnson explaining why the deal wasn’t made public before it was finalized: “If we’d have put it out in front of the public, they’d have said ‘no data center’ based on misinformation and what Virginia looks like, or what they’re reading on social media.” The complaint also quotes him saying, “We’re not a democracy.”

Why residents are suing

According to the lawsuit, the five individual plaintiffs all live within about a mile of the planned data center site. The lawsuit says the project could increase flooding risk, noise and air pollution near their homes, citing plans that may include diesel backup generators and construction in flood-prone areas.

What the lawsuit is asking for

The complaint asks the court to declare the tax abatement agreement and land sale documents null and void because they were approved in violation of Georgia’s Open Meetings Act. It also asks the court to order the Development Authority to turn over the May and July purchase and sale agreements under the state’s Open Records Act.

The lawsuit was filed by the Southern Environmental Law Center on behalf of the plaintiffs.