Tesla (TSLA)’s pollution problems are reportedly going unchecked at its Texas headquarters, adding another link in a long chain of environmental problems caused by Elon Musk’s factories.
The Wall Street Journal, citing emails, documents and interviews with former employees between Tesla officials and Texas regulators, says the giant Austin factory has been plagued by environmental concerns since it began operations in 2022. He reported that he was in trouble.
Hazardous wastewater from production flowed untreated into Austin’s sewer system, while the plant’s foundry, designed to melt metal for Model Y parts, could not be properly shut down. This allowed toxins to be spewed unhindered into the air, raising temperatures of up to 100 degrees for workers on the job site.
As Tesla was hosting a party to unveil its new factory in April 2022 with thousands of drunk Tesla fans, cowboys gyrating in a cage and a cameo from Harrison Ford, workers said He was worried about a pond Tesla had built to collect wastewater from chemicals. The Journal reports on the spill, its paint shop and construction status. Not only was the pond filled with toxins and smelled of rotten eggs, but a dead deer was found.
For some time, water from that pond was discharged into Austin’s sewer system without permission from local regulators. Some of Tesla’s efforts to remove waste have turned nearly a mile of the Colorado River into a “muddy brown river,” the magazine reported.
The newspaper said Tesla executives were aware of the problems at the vast factory but opted for a short-term solution. Former employees said management ignored their concerns about environmental issues and feared that by slowing production, workers would lose their jobs.
“Tesla has repeatedly asked me to lie to the government so that it can operate without paying appropriate environmental management fees,” a 2024 memo from an Austin environmental compliance official to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said. The magazine reported that. The agency’s Criminal Enforcement Division and the Texas Commission have launched a preliminary investigation related to these allegations.
In addition to the newly reported Tesla problems in Austin, the company’s Fremont, California, factory has been cited for more than 180 air quality violations since 2019. The magazine reports that since May, local governments have issued 75 violation notices.
In August, local Texas authorities announced in violation notices that Musk’s SpaceX company had repeatedly released pollutants into waters near the Starbase factory in Boca Chica. Local nonprofits in Tennessee, where Musk’s xAI installed supercomputers, have expressed concerns about the environmental impact.
Despite his company’s problems, Musk calls himself the planet’s biggest environmental champion.
“Tesla has done more for the environment than all other companies combined,” he said last year. “So it’s no exaggeration to say that as a company leader, I’ve done more for the environment than anyone else on the planet.”
Mr. Musk has repeatedly accused environmental regulations, and all regulations more broadly, of hindering innovation, especially his own company’s efforts.
In September, Musk said he would sue the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for “overreach” over new fines imposed on SpaceX, complaining that the agency was withholding the fines. He recently slammed his Boring Company and other rules governing SpaceX.
Thanks to his close relationship with President-elect Donald Trump, Musk has now been appointed to lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which aims to cut “at least $2 trillion” from the federal budget. . Musk has said he wants to make widespread cuts to regulations and federal workers, although much remains unclear about how that goal will be implemented.
This could have implications for the EPA and other agencies that regulate Musk’s companies, such as the FAA, which regulates SpaceX and NewLink, the Food and Drug Administration, and the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration.
“Not only would fewer officials be needed to enforce fewer regulations, but agencies would also enact fewer regulations if the scope of their authority was appropriately limited,” Musk and DOGE co-authored. Leader Vivek Ramaswamy wrote in an editorial last week that President Trump “will tighten regulations.” Thousands of regulations.
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