The long awaited and often delayed Giga Berlin production plant for American EV maker Tesla has been delayed once again, after a local governmental hearing was pushed out for the third time.
Construction and opening of the massive Giga Berlin has suffered from repeated delays and objections from local environmental groups and Tesla critics.
The most recent delay – and theoretically the final delay before production at the plant can begin – has to do with water supply for the facility, which environmentalists claim has been approved without the necessary testing.
Concerns focus on the amount of water being supplied and the possibility of groundwater pollution. The Brandenburg State Office for the Environment tacitly granted approval for operation at Giga Berlin to proceed back in September, but only after Tesla met a number of requirements so as to reduce the possibility of toxic pollutants entering the groundwater.
According to local German broadcaster Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB24), a hearing in front of the Frankfurt administrative court has been delayed for a third time.
The hearing follows a lawsuit filed by several environmental associations against the State Environmental Agency for approving increased water delivery rates to the Tesla factory back in 2020, who claim that the necessary testing was not conducted before such a permit was approved.
It is well known that Germany’s bureaucratic system can be at times overbearing – a fact seen countless times in recent years when looking at onshore wind and large-scale solar deployment.
However, Tesla has been accused of trying to push its construction and operation approvals through local agencies without necessarily meeting the normal requirements any other company would have to meet.
In a recent interview with Teslarati, lawyer Thorsten Deppner who is representing several environmental groups, repeatedly stressed that the lawsuits were not intended to halt or derail the facility, but to simply act as a “guideline” and to have Tesla follow the rules and regulations of environmental standards.
There is no indication of when the hearing will be rescheduled, making it ultimately very unlikely Giga Berlin will begin production of vehicles this year.
Joshua S. Hill is a Melbourne-based journalist who has been writing about climate change, clean technology, and electric vehicles for over 15 years. He has been reporting on electric vehicles and clean technologies for Renew Economy and The Driven since 2012. His preferred mode of transport is his feet.
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