Environmental objection period for Giga Berlin closed

The online discussion on objections to the Tesla plant in Grünheide, which was scheduled for a second time, is now closed. Brandenburg’s Minister of Economic Affairs, Jörg Steinbach, remains optimistic that the first electric cars will roll off the assembly line there this year.

The third round of public participation in the approval process for Tesla’s planned vehicle factory in Grünheide produced several hundred new objections in the summer. The subsequent online discussion took place, but was repeated by the state of Brandenburg at the beginning of November after criticism from environmental groups. The Brandenburg State Office for the Environment (LfU) cited possible legal uncertainties as the reason. The first online consultation in October was announced too late, thus the restart of the procedure.

After the discussion of the objections ended this Monday, the evaluation of the consultation now follows. Jörg Steinbach still considers the start of production for the first electric cars to be realistic. He cannot give a guarantee for this, but he assumes that no “huge problems” will arise from the objections during the renewed online discussion, said Brandenburg’s Minister of Economics at an event in Potsdam. Minister Steinbach did not comment on the possible timing of the final approval of the Tesla plant.

Meanwhile, workers at the Tesla plant in Grünheide have taken the first steps towards electing a works council, according to IG Metall. The union reports that seven employees have invited to the election of an election committee on 29 November. However, the vote of a works council may take some time: “Since the Tesla workforce is still being built up and only about every sixth employee has been hired so far, it makes sense not to hold the election on the same day. Those who have been hired so far often have managerial and coordinating tasks. This question will be decided by the election committee to be elected on 29 November,” IG Metall explains.

Finally, a look at Texas, where Tesla is building a vehicle plant parallel to Grünheide. According to media reports, the production plant there is close to completion. The portal Teslarati, among others, concludes this from approval documents of the Texas Appraisal Review Board, which show that Tesla wants to complete the construction of the assembly, paint shop, foundry, stamping shop and body shop by 2021.

electrek.co, teslarati.com (Texas), reuters.com (works council)