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- [00:05]
Peter Biello
Welcome to the Georgia Today podcast. Here we bring you the latest reports from the GPB newsroom. On today's episode, July was the warmest on record for the lower 48. More police officers are accused of misusing flock cameras. And more than 80 data centers have been proposed for Georgia. And of those, only a couple dozen have said how much power they'll need. And two thirds have disclosed their size.
- [00:28]
Amy Sharma
There's another 25 some odd that we don't know anything about. And we can't even estimate how much power because we don't even know how like large of a facility they're going to be.
- [00:39]
Peter Biello
Today is Monday, August 10th. I'm Peter Biello, and this is Georgia Today. Last year, Georgia Power got permission from the state's Public Service Commission to radically increase the amount of electricity the utility generates and sells. The reason? Data centers. Now, as communities across the state make deals with data center developers, there's reason to believe Georgia has promised more power than it has to offer, even after Georgia Power's expansion. These are the findings of the nonprofit Science for Georgia, of which scientist Amy Sharma is executive director. Amy's with me now. Thank you for coming on to explain all this.
- [01:17]
Amy Sharma
Thanks for having me. Pleasure to be here.
- [01:19]
Peter Biello
So, first question. What's your bottom line estimate of how much electricity data centers may be seeking in Georgia versus how much the state has on offer?
- [01:27]
Amy Sharma
So I wish I could give you a super simple answ, but the range is between 29 gigawatts and 58 gigawatts.
- [01:36]
Peter Biello
That's a huge range. And just so we can wrap our heads around that, what is a gigawatt?
- [01:42]
Amy Sharma
So 1.21 gigawatts will send a DeLorean through time, but in real life land, there's like entire webpages on what does that mean? But about a gigawatt is about the output of one nuclear reactor or half of Hoover Dam. And so to put that in perspective, we now have planned Vogel, which has four nuclear reactors at it. We were really excited about its opening a couple of years ago. Yay. That was big fanfare. That has four nuclear reactors. It produces a little over 4 gigawatts of power.
- [02:17]
Peter Biello
Recently, Georgia Power CEO Chris Womack told company shareholders that once Effingham County OpenAI data center contract is confirmed, Georgia Power will have promised 1 gigawatt more electrical capacity than it has permission to provide. So that's far lower than the number the range you just provided. Why is there such a difference between your numbers and his?
- [02:40]
Amy Sharma
There are approximately, according to our Stats, we have over about 81 proposed new data centers for the state of Georgia. Of those, only 25 have released how much power they're going to need. And so those 24 in their official documentation, press releases, dri, stuff like that say they're going to need about 16 gigawatts of power. And Georgia Power has permission to build about 14 gigawatts of power. So rounding the numbers and fudging the errors, he's about right that it's about 1 gigawatt more. So that's not wrong. The problem is there are 81 proposed data centers. Of that we could find 57 that had listed their square feet, which is the other way that you can use to estimate power. So that's over twice as many as the ones that have listed their proposed power. And of those, you have to use like some math and figure out how to do it. And so that's where we get the number of 29 gigawatts to 58 gigawatts is based on the square footage of the facility.
- [03:58]
Peter Biello
So it seems like there's a lot of unknowns in the state of Georgia. If you try to compile a list of all the data centers, you may have the locations, but you may not have the size of each data center or you may not have the expected power usage in that list.
- [04:14]
Amy Sharma
Yeah, so this just points out the startling lack of transparency around all of these developments anyways. Right. So if you think about it, 25 of them have declared their proposed power needs. We only know 57 actual square footage. There's another 25 some odd that we don't know anything about. And we can't even estimate how much power because we don't even know how like large of a facility they're going to be.
- [04:42]
Peter Biello
Here at gpb, we looked at your data. We saw something we didn't really understand and that's that the average needs of the data centers on the way that we know about anyway, seem to be about twice that of the older existing data centers. How can that be?
- [04:57]
Amy Sharma
How can that be? So two things. One, old school data centers. Data centers have existed since the Internet was created. They used to just be like random office buildings or in the basement of the bank. Right. And they were just holding cloud storage and backup and stuff like that. So those old places, we're mainly storing data and information. And when you store data and information, it requires a lot less power. It's just not a very intensive thing to store things. New data centers are the AI hyperscale data centers. AI hyperscale AI is very processor intensive, which means it's very energy intensive. So they're going to need a lot more power.
- [05:44]
Peter Biello
A number of data center related bills failed in the state legislature this year. In your view, would any of them have made it easier for the public to get an accurate handle on what these data centers are going to need, energy wise?
- [05:59]
Amy Sharma
Yes. So there was one bill, HB528, it was called the High Use Facilities Transparency act, and it would require any high use facility to disclose how much power and water it was going to need. So that would have been a good one. There was also Senate Bill 421, which was transparency of research use. And that basically would have said that no government body can enter into an NDA around power and water use. And so either one of those would have really made most of these deals a lot more open and transparent to the public.
- [06:37]
Peter Biello
The NDA one strikes me as particularly interesting because several companies had been using NDAs and that led to a lot of secrecy leading up to public approval of some of these more controversial projects, not necessarily in Georgia, but nationwide.
- [06:52]
Amy Sharma
And these are nothing new. They make sense, right? So if you're a Hyundai plant and you're coming into Georgia, you're probably shopping around Georgia, Kentucky, Alabama, blah, blah, blah. So the NDA makes a little bit of sense because otherwise people are undercutting and there's a lot of deals and stuff like that. So like the NDA in large facility, like industrial things is not a new trick of the trade. The problem is, is they consider everything now is covered under the NDA. And for some reason data center companies say the amount of power and water they're going to need is a trade secret which makes absolutely no sense. None of us could replicate their technology or figure out what they're doing if we learned how much power and water they were using. And so they've just taken the NDA like a bridge too far. And so those, that's what's really hamstringing a lot of these things is they can't say any. Like we are, we'll be at a town hall and I'll say this one, based on its square footage, is going to use this much power and this much water. And someone will come up and be like, that's not the right number. And I'll be like, well, can you tell me the right number? And they're like no. And you're like, well then I don't. Like, we would love to know the right number. I would love to have better numbers to estimate off of.
- [08:11]
Peter Biello
Amy Sharma is executive director of the nonprofit Science for Georgia. Thank you so much for speaking with me.
- [08:17]
Amy Sharma
Thanks for having me. Always a pleasure.
- [08:19]
Peter Biello
We asked Georgia Power how they plan to manage the 1 GW of power required by OpenAI, but which the utility does not have permission to generate. They point to a stipulation in ongoing contract negotiations that OpenAI agrees to reduce their energy use at times when Georgia Power says the larger grid demands it.
- [08:38]
Amy Sharma
The fatal shooting of a teenager at a protest in Seattle has gone unsolved for six years. This is open in your face. How are there no answers? Our investigation has uncovered new evidence and witnesses who say they've never talked to police.
- [08:53]
Peter Biello
Did police ever call you?
- [08:55]
Amanda Andrews
Not once.
- [08:56]
Amy Sharma
Listen to We Keep Us Safe, a new True Crime series on the Embedded Podcast from npr.
- [09:05]
Peter Biello
More Georgia law enforcement officers now face criminal charges after allegedly misusing their department's flock camera system. GPB's Grant Blankenship reports from Macon.
- [09:15]
Grant Blankenship
What the Bibb County Sheriff's Office is calling unlawful queries of the Flock system by three of its deputies came to light recently during what's now a monthly audit of the system by the sheriff's office. Now, the three deputies believed responsible for those searches are all charged with at least one count of stalking, a felony. One is charged with three counts. All are also charged with violation of oath by a public officer. The Bibb county arrests come amidst similar investigations in communities across Georgia, including the arrest of five officers in Albany and the dismissal of six people from from the Savannah Police Department during the investigation of flat camera misuse there. For GPP News, I'm Grant Blankenship in Macon.
- [09:54]
Peter Biello
Authorities in East George's Burke county say five people are dead after a suspected quadruple homicide and a shootout with deputies. The deaths happened last night near Sardis, about an hour south of Augusta. Authorities say deputies found four people, three women and a man dead at two nearby residences within a few hours. Burke County Sheriff's office spokesman R.S. brown says the suspect in those shootings, Adolphus Morris, crashed his vehicle in the center of town during a chase, exited the vehicle and began firing. He says officers returned fire and Morris was pronounced dead at the scene.
- [10:26]
Amy Sharma
We're still trying to figure out what was the most behind it. We do know that he has had run on with the law in the past.
- [10:34]
Peter Biello
He says an investigation is ongoing and more details could be released tomorrow. A federal judge has dismissed a criminal case against two officers tied to the killing of a man shot 76 times during an attempted arrest in the Atlanta area. Prosecutors accused officers Eric Hinds and Christopher Hutchins of using excessive force during the 2016 arrest of Jamarion Robinson. In a July 30 ruling, U.S. district Judge Victoria Calvert wrote that the officers were immune from prosecution because they were acting within the scope of their federal authority. July was the warmest month on record in the contiguous United States. The National Centers for Environmental Information said today that the average temperature of 76.9 degrees was 3.3 degrees above the 20th century average and 0.1 degree above the previous record set in 1936 and 2012. The National Weather Service says Valdosta's average July temperature was 2.5 degrees above normal. Long range forecasts show increasing heat across Georgia this week and next, with heat index values topping 100 degrees each afternoon. The July record continues a pattern driven by human caused climate change. Dozens of Georgia farmers say they still haven't received compensation for damages caused by Hurricane Helene nearly two years ago. A bipartisan group of federal lawmakers from Georgia says damage from the storm caused inaccurate wind data and making the farmers ineligible for payments. In a July letter, a U.S. department of Agriculture official said there was nothing the agency could do about it. Legislation to address the problem has stalled in Congress. Fulton County's annual survey of homeless residents is revealing gaps in service. GPB's Amanda Andrews reports on the county's 2026 point in time, or PIT, count.
- [12:25]
Amanda Andrews
The survey from the Fulton Continuum of care identified 323 unhoused individuals, a 34% increase from 2025. The were sheltered, but there was an increase in those who were not. The report also highlighted that rapid re housing capacity has fallen significantly since 2025. Dawn Butler works for Fulton County's Department of Community Development. She says they're looking to make strategic partnerships to fill the housing gap, an
- [12:51]
Amy Sharma
organization that may have rapid rehousing this year due to funding. You know, whether it's government funding or private funding, they may not have it next year. So it's a continuum of work that we do and a continuum of reaching out.
- [13:04]
Amanda Andrews
Fulton county is preparing for next pit count January 27, 2027. For GPB news, I'm Amanda Andrews.
- [13:12]
Peter Biello
Health advocates are concerned about recent decisions by the U.S. food and Drug Administration that authorize the marketing of flavored nicotine products, including E cigarettes. GPB's Ellen Eldredge reports.
- [13:23]
Ellen Eldredge
Advocates say marketing the new flavored products will make them appeal to children. They say adults should watch out for signs, including mood and behavior changes like loss of appetite and poor sleep habits. Brian King is with Tobacco Free Kids
- [13:37]
Amy Sharma
Nicotine, which is a psychoactive drug, so it can affect learning, attention and memory. And so if you do see a youth with those types of characteristics, it's important that you get them to a healthcare provider to help them quit the addiction.
- [13:52]
Ellen Eldredge
King says. Nine out of 10 kids who are using tobacco products are using flavored varieties. For GPB News, I'm Ellen Eldredge.
- [14:01]
Peter Biello
Georgia Gwinnett College says it's welcoming its largest cohort of nursing students in the program's history classes began today for the 47 new students at the college in Lawrenceville, northeast of Atlanta. The program's growth comes as both Georgia and the nation continue to seek qualified registered nurses to meet growing patient needs. Just a good old boy, never meaning no harm. Ben Jones, the Dukes of Hazzard actor who later represented Georgia in Congress, has died. Jones played the mechanic Cooter Davenport on the hit television series from 1979 to 1985. He later turned to politics, serving two terms as a Democrat representing a northwest Georgia district. In a 2008 interview with GPB, Jones said Cooter connected with audiences because the character was relatable.
- [14:58]
Grant Blankenship
Cooter, you see, had the only garage and the only tow truck in a county. This is a place where all they did was wreck cars. So every time you saw him, he was working, and people can relate to that.
- [15:13]
Peter Biello
Jones also appeared in more than 100 stage productions during his career. He died Sunday at his home in Virginia after a heart attack. According to his wife, Ben Jones was 84 years old. And that's a wrap on Georgia Today. Thanks for tuning in. Hope you'll come back tomorrow. Make sure you subscribe to this podcast and check gpb.org news for updates to the stories you heard today as well as new headlines our reporters have written. And if you've got feedback, a story we should know about something going on in your community, let us know by email. The address is Georgia todaypb.org I'm Peter Biello. Thanks again for listening. We will see you tomorrow.