Three Effingham County residents, Michelle Finch-Mincey, Lehman Mincey Jr. and Raymond Carver, have filed a civil racketeering complaint against OpenAI, its affiliate Octans GA LLC, developer Savannah Industrial Development LLC, the county industrial development authority and all six county commissioners. The complaint, filed on November 6 by the Savannah firm Savage, Turner, Pinckney, Savage, Sprouse and Gilluly, alleges a civil conspiracy to advance Project Camellia through closed door discussions, improper zoning procedures and racketeering involving false statements, perjury and forgery. Those are allegations in a damages claim, not findings by any court.
Project Camellia is a planned 3.2 gigawatt campus on a 1,440 acre parcel at the Savannah Gateway Industrial Hub near Rincon, valued at about 30 billion dollars across five phases in the complaint and local reporting. The plaintiffs say offers to buy homes near the site have been reduced or withdrawn since the project was announced in July, and they seek damages for the fall in their property values.
The suit is the third filed against the project, after one on zoning and one on the development authority’s role. A county decision on final permission, originally due November 4, has been moved to November 19, and construction could start in 2028 at the earliest if permission is granted. OpenAI has previously said it will pay for required infrastructure upgrades so local utility costs are not affected.