From a long list of horrible societal harms from Tesla, some obviously criminal, this one surprised me the most.
Tesla’s paint shop at their factory in Fremont has been noncompliant with the EPA for 11 of the last 12 quarters. And no one talks about it. They’re just rampantly violating environmental laws and emitting stuff into the air with a school next door.
It reminds me of the high profile Ford paint dumping catastrophe that over decades has poisoned Native American families.
New Jersey is suing the Ford Motor Company over hazardous waste dumping on Native American land in Passaic County since the 1960s.
Tesla definitely knew about this Ford issue when they decided to repeat the mistakes.
2019: EPA finds Tesla failures and Tesla settled with EPA on hazardous waste violations
EPA led unannounced inspections at the Fremont facility in 2017 along with the California Department of Toxic Substances Control and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. The inspections identified violations of federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) regulations. RCRA rules require the safe management of hazardous waste to protect public health and the environment and to prevent costly cleanups.
Tesla was fined by the EPA settlement… wait for it… $31K.
2020: Tesla accused of Environmental rule violations
2022: EPA again issues a pathetically small penalty.
Tesla has agreed to pay a $275,000 fine in a settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for violating the federal Clean Air Act…
Tesla is a dangerous fraud, according to the settlement, which points it out again and again.
Yet as that fraud directly polluted schools, there’s no evidence of real assessment and accountability.
The Fremont factory should have been shut down and rigorously tested for air quality violations.
FAILING 11 out 12 QUARTERS?!
Don’t open that factory until it can pass every quarter going forward.
Stopping Tesla from making cars not only would protect families unfortunately living near these fraud factories, it would help reduce the number of Tesla on the road (a known threat to everyone around, especially its driver).
It’s particularly revealing to see Tesla use propaganda tactics.
Look back to what happened before the EPA stepped in.
In 2018 it seems Tesla claimed to be hapless victims who said they believed in raising standards of environmental quality.
…the plant emitted elevated levels of smog-forming nitrogen oxides from 2013 through 2016. […] “They were the result of Tesla inheriting an older building that was not up to our standards.”
Three years? Come on. That’s willful ignorance. Standards would have found it and fixed it.
It reads like catching a son sitting in his father’s chair slowly smoking a pipe who says “this is all dad’s fault”. Smoking kills, dude. No excuses.
They paid California regulators $139,500 in that case, another measly fine.
Guess what happened next. The pollution continued to an even worse degree, as detailed above. After calling themselves superior, Tesla was polluting more and caught by the EPA for lack of necessary plans and controls.
Today we know with certainty that Tesla intentionally lowered standards at their factory from the start, becoming infamous for safety levels set below everyone else.
They allegedly believed in getting away with environmental crimes, opposite of what any community should ever want.
Tesla pollutes directly into a school, with minimal protection or representation for its victims?
Where do we find out more?
Who is reporting on this?