McDuffie County Approves $1 Billion Data Center Despite Power and Traffic Concerns

The McDuffie County Commission greenlit Project Azalea on with a 4-1 vote Tuesday. This $1 billion data center will sprawl across 200 acres and could funnel roughly $25 million into local coffers each year when it's up and running.

A state-mandated assessment wrapped up Feb. 13 by the CSRA Regional Commission. Around 125 full-time jobs might materialize once construction wraps up. The county manager hasn't answered whether these are construction jobs or permanent positions ant the data center itself.

The assessment, called a Development of Regional Impact, flagged two big problems with infrastructure. First, there isn't enough electricity to power this thing. Second, nobody's done a traffic study yet, though one isn't mandatory at this point in the process.

The site sits in what McDuffie County's master plan calls the "Countryside" character area. According to the plan, any building in that zone should protect open land and keep things rural.

Eighteen outside groups could feel the effects of this project. Fort Gordon made the list. So did Augusta-Richmond County, Jefferson County, and Columbia County. But the assessment doesn't spell out what those effects might be or how environmental groups could be impacted.

The Development of Regional Impact Assessment offers guidance, not rules. It doesn't strip away the county's power to reject or approve the project.

Georgia requires this assessment to spot potential consequences of big construction projects and check whether they mesh with what the region wants long-term. The state won't let major developments proceed without one.