Sen. Warnock calls for statewide data center moratorium after regulators approved massive OpenAI facility

U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock has called for a statewide moratorium on data centers in Georgia unless safeguards for the community are put in place.

The senator's comments come on the same day that he visited the site of what will be OpenAI's massive 3.2 gigawatt data center in Effingham County.

Earlier this week, the Georgia Public Service Commission announced that the data center had cleared a regulatory review, approving what would be a $20 billion investment by the artificial intelligence company in the state.

Georgia Power has said that OpenAI will pay the full cost of whatever infrastructure is needed to power the data center and that the utility company can reduce the future facility's electricity use when there is high demand on the power grid.

However, Warnock argued the residents were effectively excluded from the decisions behind Project Camellia and raised concerns about rate increases, light and noise pollution, and disruptions to their way of life. As part of his visit, he met with residents, including one who lives across the street from the site of the proposed data center.

"Data center developers across the country are not operating in partnership with communities, and that's why everyday citizens on both sides of the aisle are rightly and equally concerned about this," Warnock said in a statement. "The lack of transparency here in Effingham County and in counties across our state and across the country is unacceptable, and that's why today I'm calling for a moratorium on data centers."

Warnock's proposed moratorium could be lifted for specific projects that prove that there will be no water or electric bill increases, no "sweetheart tax giveaways to developers," no NDAs, no additional air and water pollution, and "no ambiguity around noise and light pollution."

The Georgia senator had previously written to the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, asking for the federal agency to issue guidance and best practices to help local communities protect their water supplies as data centers are being constructed.

According to data provided by the senator's office, Georgia currently is the nation's sixth-largest data center hub, with around 230 facilities across the state.