Confusing water judgment for German Tesla factory> teslamag.de

The festive mood of the Brandenburg state government held steady for a few hours: on Friday afternoon, they proudly and relievedly announced that Tesla, two years after the first application, was dead. Final approval for Giga plant in Grunheide near Berlin to have. But almost from the start, the prolonged operation was accompanied by warnings about the water supply at the Tesla plant. On Friday evening, a court ruled that the state’s approval of a larger extraction in the area was illegal.

Form error in water permit for Tesla

It was already known that the Administrative Court in Frankfurt / Oder would do something else – it even announced that the hearing on the matter would take place on Friday. In the process, the associations filed a lawsuit against the state government. In February 2020, the Strausberg-Erkener Water Society (WSE), which is responsible for the Tesla district, allowed the withdrawal of one of its waterworks to increase by 1.3 million cubic meters per year, but according to prosecutors they made mistakes. The amount corresponds to approximately 1.4 million cubic meters Which Tesla named the water requirements for its factory. The increased extraction has not been specifically approved, but WSE said it would have to terminate the Gigafactory’s contract if a court overrules the permit.

And it happened on Friday – at least halfway through. On Friday evening, the court declared that the February 2020 Water Law permit was illegal and incomprehensible. The state made a procedural error by not initiating an “additional procedure with renewed public participation” for the increased removal. This is an official violation of the law, which justifies the “illegality of the contested decision and its unenforceability.” This seems obvious, but at the same time, the court wrote that this error does not lead to the revocation of the license.

The court goes on to say that there is a tangible possibility of compensation for the necessary public participation in a supplementary procedure until the error is “remedied”. Other described tests were performed correctly. The content of the decision is also not objectionable because there is no contradiction between groundwater extraction and recharge. In addition, during the proceedings it was said that it would be announced that the entire production would not be accepted at the waterworks, so the gap in the WSE would have been greater, but this does not seem to be the case.

The country can initially afford the highest extraction

However, the court declared According to a report by RBBIncreasing funding can start only after compensating for public participation. This appears to be the same process under federal emissions control law that Tesla had to go through at its entire German plant. However, the WSE chief has already outlined a way in which there can be enough water for Tesla and everyone else in his area in advance: The state can issue a tolerance, the judge suggested, according to RBB. The Minister of Environment in the state of Brandenburg had announced this earlier To go to higher courts in the matter if necessary. The Administrative Court has now allowed an appeal to be filed.