Tesla would love you to think it’s a cleaner alternative to those dirty, polluting gasoline cars. When you bought a Model SThey say you’re helping save the planet. However, Tesla doesn’t always do the best job comply with local environmental regulationsAnd according to Houston Chroniclethey are using a new state law to remove the Texas plant from Austin’s environmental regulatory authority.
The plant, located outside Austin, Texas near the city’s airport, is part of the city’s “extraterritorial jurisdiction,” meaning Austin’s environmental laws still apply. Considering its location on the Colorado River, it makes sense that the city has strict regulations to keep the water clean and prevent flooding. Unlike Austin, Travis County’s environmental regulations are more lax.
The city has confirmed with Houston Chronicle that Tesla requested to remove “land related to Tesla operations” from Austin’s extraterritorial jurisdiction and that it met the requirements to do so. “The release of assets from ETJ will impact the city and its residents in the future,” the city said in a statement. “The city of Austin’s environmental regulations protect water resources better than unincorporated Travis County.”
Austin’s decision to leave ETJ is ironic because Musk initially claimed the factory would “basically be an ecological paradise – birds in the trees, butterflies, fish in the streams.” As Alexia Leclercq, policy director of her Foundation for the Earth and Natural Resources Foundation, told Houston Chronicleit’s also consistent with Tesla’s approach to protecting the environment since it began building the 2,500-acre facility.
“They tend to try to impose as little regulation as possible,” she said, noting that the ecological paradise Musk initially promised is “nowhere to be found.”
However, once removed from Austin’s ETJ, it won’t be a freebie for Tesla. It would still have to comply with state regulations that limit how much it could pollute the river and how much it could damage nearby wetlands. It To be Still, it’s Texas, good luck with that, Austin.
