07/30/2026
Here is a copy of our official comment to CRC. ***TOMORROW IS THE LAST DAY OF ACCEPTANCE*** Please send your comments in ASAP
Coastal Communities United
1367 ML Miller RD Brooklet, GA 30415
920-896-3904
[email protected]
To whoever it may concern,
We are writing to you today to voice real concerns over DRI #4801 Project Camellia. I will lead with the historical and cultural impacts to this area. Much of this area is a Civil war historical site. Coldbrook Swamp was an active battle site and also holds Coldbrook Plantation. This was a historical piece in history. Inland Rice Cultivation: The swampy terrain surrounding the Coldbrook site was transformed in the late 18th century into engineered inland rice cultivation systems, constructed largely by hand by enslaved Africans. National Register Eligibility: Identified during cultural resource surveys for the Effingham Parkway project, archaeologists from New South Associates determined the site holds significant historical data regarding how lowcountry plantation infrastructure operated outside of tidal river systems. Local Heritage: The area is tied to historic local planter families, such as the Keller family, who managed agricultural operations and community development in Effingham County through the 19th and early 20th centuries, eventually lending its name to a local stop on the historic Brinson Railroad line. Horsepen road nearby, was named after the pens in that area that held the calvary horses. These area must be preserved and surveyed appropriately.
This area also is full of wetlands, or was until the Effingham Parkway project. The filling in for that project alone has led to major flooding and evacuation events in the area during rain events. Black Creek runs through here and is already being diverted by the Effingham Parkway.
Human and environmental health risks identified. Noise pollution:hyperscale centers generate a constant hum that’s being regularly recorded at 90 decibels nearby. 85 decibels is hazardous to human hearing not to mention a health stress to local wildlife and bird migration. Light Pollution: hyperscale centers require 24/7 lighting.This disrupts the circadian rhythm and melatonin production.This also affects migration and animal habitat.Hyperscale centers are associated with insomnia,depression,hearing loss, stress,cardiac problems,and decreased quality of life. This project sits directly between two elementary schools. There are no studies on the affects to children as there are no CURRENT operating hyperscale centers of this size this close to a school ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD.
Effingham County also has no infrastructure in place for a project of this size.I drive through this area daily. It is entirely ripped up and under construction leading to dangerous combinations of residential on heavy industrial traffic.Many people living here will walk out their front door into traffic due to the land they’ve taken for expansion.There is routine accidents in this area, heavy congestion at every intersection and children who will soon be getting on and off the bus in industrial traffic and construction. Infrastructure needs to be in place and working efficiently before anymore is added to this area especially considering a project of this size
Effingham currently is not even permitted for the wastewater from a project like this. Once again, as with the Bryan County mega site where the Hyundai meta plant was built, the promises to support the utility needs of such a massive industrial site outpace what infrastructure actually exists. Beyond wastewater, the water needed to support commissioning of the cooling loops, even closed loop cooling, exceeds what is available at existing local infrastructure by the timeline that would have to occur to match what Project Camellia has shared about its proposed schedule. A data table is provided in the attached water and wastewater matrix that shows how implausible the proposed plan and timeline really is. Not only does it outpace what is available now and even what is planned for the area, it would require hundreds of tanker trucks on the road, at times, continually, to meet the water and wastewater needs. Should on-site wastewater treatment be planned, other concerns arise, such as limited compliance inspections for a private industrial wastewater treatment plant with direct discharge to local waterways, and even on site wastewater evaporators that leave just a solid waste cake, often hazardous, what must be stored and trucked off site to an industrial or hazardous waste landfill. Further, if on site evaporation of wastewater is planned, that is very energy intensive, beyond the power requirements already announced. When you consider all the unknowns, it is clear that there really is no solid plan for the water and wastewater, as well as peak energy reduction plans, as well as all the environmental permits that are expected to be applied for to support this development – how many generators on site, what type of air permit (should be a Clean Air Act facility-wide Title V permit), what type of Clean Water Act permits and possibly hazardous waste storage and treatment permits are needed for wastewater treatment, to include National Pollution Discharge Elimination system (NPDES) permits for discharge to local waterways, as well as Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) permits for treatment of hazardous waste from potential wastewater evaporators.
And finally, the peak energy reduction promised does not mean the data center will operate at less capacity, or not operate its potential on site wastewater treatment processes. Instead, it likely means that the company plans to install and operate massive fossil-fuel powered generators that will supply peak shaving power to the site, creating even more noise and air pollution for nearby residents and school children to suffer.
We urge to demand that the local government there supply actual, verifiable needs for water and wastewater, as well as peak energy reduction plans, as well as all the environmental permits that are expected to be applied for to support this development – how many generators on site, what type of air permit (should be a Clean Air Act facility-wide Title V permit), what type of Clean Water Act permits and possibly hazardous waste storage and treatment permits are needed for wastewater treatment, to include National Pollution Discharge Elimination system (NPDES) permits for discharge to local waterways, as well as Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) permits for treatment of hazardous waste from potential wastewater evaporators.
The community deserves to see a reasonable plan for how the company and the industrial development authority actually expects to meet the needs of the proposed development. The short answer is, they cannot. Not without hundreds of tanker trucks on the road clogging up an already strained network of local roadways, and not without a massive web of environmental, human health, and general well-being impacts to the residents of Effingham County and surrounding areas.
