The data center fight in Effingham, Illinois
As of September 27, 2026, Effingham, Illinois has a data center moratorium in force (action taken Jun 2, 2026; documented end date 2027-06-02).
Status is derived, not stored — a pause with a documented end date flips to Expired on its own — and the source is right next to the claim.
Status today
12-month moratorium on data center and crypto mine applications; 5-0 unanimous vote; applies within city limits and 1.5-mile ETJ
SourceNews
read 2026-09-11
An expiry date is the earliest a pause could have ended — extensions are common, so confirm with the clerk before citing it.
Recent news
20 stories tracked since 2026-08-20 across 10 outlets. 10× A community is pushing back on a nearby data center. 5× The dispute has escalated into litigation. Most recent: “New lawsuit alleges unfair secrecy around Effingham data center” (Georgia Recorder, 2026-09-21).
- New lawsuit alleges unfair secrecy around Effingham data center
- New lawsuit alleges unfair secrecy around Effingham data center
- Second Lawsuit Targets Effingham IDA Over OpenAI Data Center
- New lawsuit alleges unfair secrecy around Effingham data center
- Effingham Planning Board Resignations Raise Data Center Questions
- Effingham officials discuss data center ordinance
- Georgia PSC Takes Questions on OpenAI’s Effingham Data Center
- Effingham residents sue county over zoning ordinance that allowed data center
- Senator criticizes lack of transparency on Effingham data center
- How much water will Effingham’s OpenAI data center need? A lot – but not on site.
- Savannah hits pause on data centers after OpenAI's Effingham proposal
- Effingham Residents Press Commissioners Over OpenAI Data Center
+8 more on the story tracker.
Automated news aggregation, not human-verified — follow each link to the original outlet. Part of the story tracker, 20 headlines archived.
What to do next
- Questions to ask at the hearing — force specific answers onto the record.
- Estimate the impact — electricity, water, and rate pressure for any facility size in Illinois.
- Model CBA clauses — copy-paste language communities have actually won.
- Illinois briefing — rates, grid carbon, PUC contacts, and every fight in the state.
Nearby in Illinois
- Mattoon (27 mi) — Enactedno fixed end — runs until a condition is met
- Macon County (56 mi) — Proposedterm not documented
- Champaign County (73 mi) — Enactedexpires 2027-04-23
- Illinois (tax incentives) (75 mi) — Enactedexpires 2028-07-01
- Logan County (82 mi) — Enactedexpires 2027-05-19
- Bloomington (97 mi) — Enactedexpires soon — 2026-11-26
- Normal (99 mi) — Enactedexpires 2026-11-30
- Carbondale (103 mi) — Enactedexpires 2027-06-23
All 18 tracked actions in Illinois are on the state page.
As of August 2026 · changes weekly — re-check before citing
Illustrative rather than exhaustive — dozens of localities churn weekly, and this tracks the ones we have read a source for. **Each row carries its own provenance.** Rows showing a verification date link to the ordinance, the enacting body's own page, or a datable report of the vote, and were read on that date. Rows marked *unverified* came from bulk compilation and have not been checked against a primary source — the locality, the year, and the status may all be off. Verify one of those with the town clerk before citing it as precedent. **Expiry is derived, not asserted.** A row with a documented end date flips to *Expired* on its own once that date passes. A time-limited moratorium whose start date was never documented keeps showing as enacted — that is a known gap, not a claim that it is still in force. Moratoriums are also routinely extended, so an expiry date is the earliest it could have ended, not proof that it did.
Part of the U.S. data center moratorium tracker — open data, CC BY 4.0.