Environmental group seeks to stop Tesla in Germany after paint leak at Giga Berlin

Due to ambiguities in connection with the leakage of a liquid on Tesla’s Giga Berlin premises in Grünheide, the Grüne Liga (Green League) has submitted an application to the responsible district Oder-Spree to prohibit the operating licence for the plant.

The incident itself involved about 15,000 litres of paint mixture being leaked, which was then cleaned up by a waste disposal company. In the end, it is estimated that only about 3 litres were unaccounted for. The paint mix is classified as a class 1 water hazard in Germany.

The environmental group responded by calling for more environmental protection measures: “In order to avoid greater damage, the district is requested to prohibit the operation of the plant until this defect has been remedied and a condition corresponding to the immission control permit has been established,” the group said. Further, Tesla was supposed to have sealed the area between the paint shop and the asphalted traffic area was still unpaved, as per the facility’s application documents for its immersion control permit.

Brandenburg state responded that “it sees no danger to the groundwater due to Giga Berlin,” and: “Accidents with water-polluting substances would not have any effects beyond the company premises, not even for soil and groundwater, if the avoidance measures were observed.”.
teslarati.com, rbb24.de (in German)