OpenAI Turns Effingham County Into a 3.2-Gigawatt Ratepayer-Firewall Test

Residents protested outside an August 29 Effingham County work session as officials fielded questions about OpenAI’s Project Camellia. The dispute now centers on whether Georgia’s large-load framework can truly keep AI megacampus costs off ordinary ratepayers while managing water, grid-reliability and public-transparency concerns.