The Supreme Administrative Court of the Berlin-Brandenburg region ordered Tesla to stop the construction of a plant in the commune of Grünheide due to the threat to the lives of the fauna living here. The worst-case scenario involves the freezing of the construction site until spring, and in the summer Tesla was planning to start producing electric vehicles here!
Earlier this year, Tesla bought 300 hectares of land in the Grünheide commune in Brandenburg, southeast of Berlin. The fourth Tesla Gigafactory should be built here, which will produce not only electric cars for Europe (the planned capacity is 500 thousand cars per year), but also batteries for them. In general, a large production.
The construction of the Gigafactory is warmly welcomed by the federal and regional authorities of Germany, since Tesla will create thousands of jobs in the very heart of the country, and electric cars, in theory, should reduce anthropogenic CO2 emissions, which is today the main priority of the policy of the European Union in general and Germany in particular. Tesla launches “full autopilot” for a select few
However, from the first days of construction, Tesla has been in trouble on German soil. When cleaning the site, bombs from the Second World War are now and then found, because of which the builders are evacuated and waiting for specialists in the disposal of weapons. But these forced pauses are trifles. Worse, the residents of Grunheide have taken up arms against Tesla, who are not happy with the fact that they will have a huge production at their side, which will disrupt the usual rhythm of life and natural silence.
Grünheide makes up the green belt of Berlin, there is practically one continuous forest around. The builders for the Tesla plant need to get rid of 92 hectares of this forest, which is a big problem. According to Deutsche Welle, only at the end of November Tesla received permission from the Brandenburg Ministry of the Environment to cut 83 hectares of forest. This decision was preceded by a months-long struggle with local residents and influential nature protection organizations supporting them (the Green League, the Union for Conservation of Nature and Biodiversity): since January they have been holding pickets against construction and deforestation.
At first, eco-activists insisted that Tesla’s Gigafactory requires too much water: they say, it will deplete local natural reserves, and lead to a shortage of drinking water for people and animals. In February, opponents of the construction through the courts achieved its freezing, after which Tesla promised to moderate its water appetite.
Then eco-activists switched directly to protecting animals: they say, deforestation requires their relocation, and Tesla was forced to relocate representatives of the local fauna (up to ants!) To neighboring forests at its own expense. But due to bureaucratic red tape and bickering, the resettlement work began too late, in August, when some of the reptiles had already gone into hibernation. It is categorically impossible to tilt them in such a state, animal advocates assure, and filed for their salvation hundreds of complaints with reference to the German Federal Law on Nature Conservation, which prohibits the killing of strictly protected species of animals, which include snakes and lizards living in the Grünheide forests.
The proceedings around this problem in the administrative court of Frankfurt an der Oder (this is also the state of Brandenburg) this week ended with a victory for Tesla: the court found that the company had taken sufficient measures to protect nature, rejected the petition of the “green” and allowed construction to continue. But the “greens” quickly got ahead of themselves, filed an appeal with the Supreme Administrative Court of the Berlin-Brandenburg region, and just a few hours after one court decision followed another – to stop the construction! Is It True: Tesla Buys Components In A Construction Supermarket
Now the Supreme Administrative Court will investigate whether animal rights have been violated, and how long it will take is unclear. It is possible that the construction site will be frozen until spring in order to wait for the awakening of snakes and lizards for their comfortable relocation. In this case, there can be no talk of any launch of the fourth Gigafactory in the summer of 2021, and the “greens” probably have other arguments against the construction.
The problem is aggravated by the fact that Tesla does not know how and does not want to communicate with society – in October it became known that the company had completely abolished the PR department. In Europe, without well-established communications with people, it will be very difficult to launch a giant plant, which is what we are seeing. The head of Tesla, Elon Musk, has not yet commented on the stop of construction in Berlin – he is now very busy in the space direction at SpaceX, he has no time for terrestrial snakes and lizards.
We, of course, do not dare to give advice to the genius Elon Musk, but in our opinion, the salvation solution would be to organize a nature reserve at the Berlin Gigafactory, similar to the one that Porsche has in Leipzig near the plant and the test site: here is a real paradise for bees birds, amphibians, reptiles, deer, bison, wild horses, hares, bats and other creatures of God. Porsche takes care of them and does not give offense, which, of course, can only be welcomed. In general, it is impossible to do big business in Europe without a humanitarian mission today, and it’s time for Elon Musk to understand this.
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