Due to the imminent clearing of another 82.8 hectares of pine forest for Tesla’s Europa Gigafactory in Grünheide, the next court case is threatening – and thus a risk for Tesla’s tight schedule for production to start in July 2021.
Two Brandenburg environmental associations, the Green League and the Nature Conservation Union (Nabu), are taking action against the permission granted by the State Environment Agency for the felling. In the 66-page document, Tesla is subject to extensive editions in every respect, apparently with a view to lawsuits.
“It all boils down to trying to legally prevent the clearing,” confirmed Michael Ganschow, Managing Director of the Green League. Because of insufficiently secured species protection – and also the unexplained development. So it is not understandable why trees are already being felled for a new sewer pipe that has not even been applied for.
The Berlin environmental lawyer Thorsten Deppner, who represents both organizations, already formally objected to the authority’s approval for the clearing on December 1st. On Wednesday representatives of the associations inspected files at the State Environment Agency in Frankfurt / Oder. If the objection is rejected, as everyone is assuming, the next step would be to take legal action in the administrative court.
Deppner has already requested evidence and documentation that strictly protected animal species were actually relocated before the start of the felling. “My clients fear the occurrence of sand lizards and smooth snakes in hibernation in the root area of trees”, it says in contradiction. If compliance with the environmental authority’s requirements cannot be demonstrated, “I will have to recommend my clients to stop the felling (…) to protect these animals by means of temporary legal protection.”
Clearance permit: “Unexpectedly high number of 14 smooth snakes”
According to the clearing permit, Tesla has been obliged “as a result of the reptile mapping and the reptile capture” to create an additional four hectares of compensation areas. Because “an unexpectedly high number of 14 smooth snakes” was registered, so that the replacement habitat created in the course of the last clearing is no longer sufficient.
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In February, lawsuits by the Green League and the Bavarian environmental association VLAB against the clearing of 92 hectares at the time before the Administrative Court and Higher Administrative Court of Berlin-Brandenburg failed. Now the approach of Tesla and the authorities to build the factory with early permits is being re-examined.
Authorities demand 100 million euros in security from Tesla
The building, in which 12,000 people will work in the first stage, is now largely in its raw form. Of the construction costs, which Tesla stated in the course of the applications at around one billion euros, around 300 million euros flowed.
According to Tagesspiegel information, these numbers can be found in the permit for the clearing, which, like everything so far, takes place at Tesla’s own risk, as the main approval process for the factory is still ongoing. Should that fail, Tesla would have to dismantle everything. In view of the construction progress, the Tesla authorities have requested a security deposit of 100 million euros, according to Tagesspiegel information.
For the schedule of the US automaker “clearing is absolutely necessary at the present time,” says the decision. The 82.8 hectares – 17 hectares less than planned – are needed, for example, to lay the sewer line for the plant and to create storage space for the “operational construction implementation”, for material, vehicles and construction containers.
