illegal water withdrawal
Tesla critics win partial success in court
03/04/2022, 9:55 p.m
After the approval for the construction of the Tesla factory in Grünheide, a judgment caused confusion: the judges prohibited increased water withdrawal, which was supposed to ensure the supply of the region. It is now unclear whether this will have consequences for the carmaker.
Critics of the new Tesla plant just outside of Berlin have achieved partial success in the process of increasing the water intake at the Eggersdorf waterworks. The administrative court in Frankfurt (Oder) declared the approval for additional water extraction in the plant to be “illegal” and not “enforceable”. The judgment in the proceedings of the recognized nature conservation associations against the State Office for the Environment was made in the evening.
The court justified the decision with a procedural error and thus partially upheld the complaint of the environmental associations Green League and Nabu. According to the presiding judge, the State Office for the Environment did not involve the public in the decision to increase production volumes from 2.5 to 3.57 million cubic meters per year. Public participation must now be made up for. Only then can the increased funding begin, as the court explained. It is unclear how long that will take. The decision can be appealed against.
Shock for the water association
With the verdict, the Strausberg-Eggersdorf Water Association (WSE) is not allowed to pump any water until public participation has taken place. The administrative court’s decision should come as a shock to the WSE. The association saw the water supply in the region around the Tesla factory at risk because of the legal dispute. The WSE had therefore announced in advance that it wanted to terminate the supply contract with Tesla if the water law permit were to be overturned by the court.
Only a few hours before the court decision on water withdrawal, Brandenburg had given approval for the construction of the Tesla factory – around two years after the start of construction. It was initially unclear in the evening what the most recent court decision means exactly for the Tesla approval.
Tesla had previously stated that there was “no direct connection” to the company. It insists on statements by the state government that the water supply for people in the region and the Tesla factory is not at risk.