Environmental NGOs continue legal fight against Tesla Berlin factory
Business Insider
Legal action brought by environmental NGOs continues to be a hurdle for Tesla’s “Gigafactory” near the German capital Berlin, reports Business Insider. The Brandenburg Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU) and the Green League have brought legal action against preliminary permits for the factory after a recent court defeat. They now complain that the higher administrative court of the region Berlin-Brandenburg did not give them sufficient opportunity to be heard and to present their views and arguments. The NGOs had sued for an immediate halt to the testing of machines in the paint shop, foundry and press shop because of the risk of chemical leaks, but the responsible administrative court had dismissed the request at the end of June, and – after an appeal – also the higher administrative court of Berlin-Brandenburg in mid-July.
Tesla and the regional government both said they assumed production could start at the end of this year. The factory is set to churn out hundreds of thousands of electric cars in the birth country of the combustion engine, shaking up the car industry in Germany and Europe, and accelerating regional development and the shift to electric mobility. Construction is advancing rapidly even though the project is yet to receive final clearance from the authorities.
