Green Clash: German Environmentalists Protest Tesla Factory

The catapulting of environmental issues to the forefront of public discourse has spawned many unlikely clashes between greens of different stripes. Climate protesters against CO2-free nuclear power generation, eco types versus high-speed electric rail, and now, angry Germans demanding Tesla stop stealing its water.

The electric automaker’s attempt to build a massive factory in the European country has hit a social roadblock.

Tesla has its eye on a sprawling, 300-hectare plot of industrial-zoned land in Brandenburg, Germany for the location of its new Gigafactory. The automaker, in expansion mode, is all about the local production these days. Europe, with its punitive emissions laws, is a ripe target for Tesla, and Germany especially, what with its bevy of high-end automakers — each planning a range of electric vehicles of its own.

The company’s Fremont, California assembly plant is tapped out for capacity, leading Tesla on a search for greener production pastures. A plant birthing Model 3s (and eventually Model Ys) recently opened in Shanghai.

While the $45.36 million Brandenburg land deal has already received the green light from Tesla’s board of directors and the state’s finance committee, protesters would prefer to see the American intruder take a hike.

As reported by Reuters, a group of 250 protesters assembled near the site over the weekend, chanting, “We are here, we are loud, because Tesla is stealing our water.” The future factory backs onto protected forest, and some trees would need to be cleared to build it. More importantly, the activists claim the massive plant would drain water from the area, impacting wildlife.

Their claims aren’t without merit. Tesla’s own plans for the factory state it would need to pull 300 cubic meters of water per hour to support its operations and employee base. Reuters reports that a Brandenburg water association issued a statement last week outlining “extensive and serious problems with the [plant’s] drinking water supply and wastewater disposal.”

Not everyone in the immediate area is unhappy with the proposal, of course. Labor unions and would-be workers are happy to see the arrival of an operation that’s expected to create 7,000 jobs. As such, counter-protesters set up shop on the other side of the street from the environmentalists.

Tesla aims to have the factory open sometime in 2021.

[Image: Beach Media/Shutterstock]