I fun bit if irony.

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So the powers that be are turning on Elon is seems. Per WSJ article.

"Tesla’s Fremont, Calif., facility has accumulated more warnings for violations of air pollution rules over the past five years than almost any other company’s plant in California, according to a Journal analysis of informal enforcement actions in the EPA’s compliance database. It is second only to a refinery owned by oil-and-gas behemoth Chevron, which is in nearby Richmond.

This year, California regulators said Tesla violated air-pollution permits at its Fremont factory 112 times over the past five years and alleged it repeatedly failed to fix equipment designed to reduce emissions, releasing thousands of pounds of toxic chemicals in excess of permissible limits into the surrounding communities. “Even after extensive discussion,” Tesla’s efforts “have not been enough to stem the violations,” the abatement order from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District read. Tesla denied the allegations in the state proceeding. Since the order was filed, the regulator has issued 75 additional notices of violations to Tesla, according to a spokesperson. "

Thankfully it's only thousands of pounds rather than tonnes.

Their Texas location isn't as bad I guess.

"The door to the plant’s giant casting furnace, which melts metal to be molded into the Model Y’s parts, wouldn’t shut, spewing toxins into the air and raising temperatures for workers on the floor to as high as 100 degrees. Hazardous wastewater from production—containing paint, oil and other chemicals—was also flowing untreated into the city’s sewer, in violation of state guidelines.

Tesla left the costly problems largely unaddressed during the critical ramp-up. As a result, the company’s 10 million-plus square foot plant—among the largest car factories in the world—dumped toxic pollutants into the environment near Austin for months.

This account of the Austin plant’s environmental problems, which haven’t been reported previously, comes from emails between Texas regulators and the company obtained by The Wall Street Journal in response to public-records requests, as well as interviews with former employees and other documents, including a memo sent by a whistleblower to the Environmental Protection Agency.

A Journal investigation shows that Tesla bosses were aware of the problems but sometimes chose short-term fixes to avoid slowing production. Former employees said they feared they might lose their job if they drew attention internally to potential environmental hazards, because senior managers didn’t consider such issues to be mission critical. As head of the company, Musk set the tone, these people said, pushing employees to move fast and complaining frequently in public statements that unnecessary regulations are strangling the U.S."

Then there's SpaceX

"Musk’s rocket company, SpaceX, has also had run-ins with regulators in Texas and community pushback in Florida, including over the impact of its launches on local plants and animals. Federal regulators recently fined the company for dumping about 262,000 gallons of wastewater from launches into wetlands in Texas without a permit. SpaceX has denied the allegations. "
 
So one party makes accusations and the other party denies it. 🤷‍♂️ Until its litigated - preferably with full disclosure to the public - its he said she said and meaningless.

The media attacks are understandable. The guy wants to fire 90% of federal employees, not to mention traffic at Twitter is through the roof. Most were predicting its demise a couple years ago. I presume were just getting started.
 
So one party makes accusations and the other party denies it. 🤷‍♂️ Until its litigated - preferably with full disclosure to the public - its he said she said and meaningless.

The media attacks are understandable. The guy wants to fire 90% of federal employees, not to mention traffic at Twitter is through the roof. Most were predicting its demise a couple years ago. I presume were just getting started.
IMHO - it will calm and then reason prevails🤞
 
So one party makes accusations and the other party denies it. 🤷‍♂️ Until its litigated - preferably with full disclosure to the public - its he said she said and meaningless.

The media attacks are understandable. The guy wants to fire 90% of federal employees, not to mention traffic at Twitter is through the roof. Most were predicting its demise a couple years ago. I presume were just getting started.

Well stated. Let's see where this ends up post-litigation. Regardless of your lens, this matter reflects an unintended consequence of weaponizing gov't agencies. Is it legitimate? Is it going after those you politically oppose? There is no way to know the "truth" at this point.
 
So the powers that be are turning on Elon is seems. Per WSJ article.

"Tesla’s Fremont, Calif., facility has accumulated more warnings for violations of air pollution rules over the past five years than almost any other company’s plant in California, according to a Journal analysis of informal enforcement actions in the EPA’s compliance database. It is second only to a refinery owned by oil-and-gas behemoth Chevron, which is in nearby Richmond.

This year, California regulators said Tesla violated air-pollution permits at its Fremont factory 112 times over the past five years and alleged it repeatedly failed to fix equipment designed to reduce emissions, releasing thousands of pounds of toxic chemicals in excess of permissible limits into the surrounding communities. “Even after extensive discussion,” Tesla’s efforts “have not been enough to stem the violations,” the abatement order from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District read. Tesla denied the allegations in the state proceeding. Since the order was filed, the regulator has issued 75 additional notices of violations to Tesla, according to a spokesperson. "

Thankfully it's only thousands of pounds rather than tonnes.

Their Texas location isn't as bad I guess.

"The door to the plant’s giant casting furnace, which melts metal to be molded into the Model Y’s parts, wouldn’t shut, spewing toxins into the air and raising temperatures for workers on the floor to as high as 100 degrees. Hazardous wastewater from production—containing paint, oil and other chemicals—was also flowing untreated into the city’s sewer, in violation of state guidelines.

Tesla left the costly problems largely unaddressed during the critical ramp-up. As a result, the company’s 10 million-plus square foot plant—among the largest car factories in the world—dumped toxic pollutants into the environment near Austin for months.

This account of the Austin plant’s environmental problems, which haven’t been reported previously, comes from emails between Texas regulators and the company obtained by The Wall Street Journal in response to public-records requests, as well as interviews with former employees and other documents, including a memo sent by a whistleblower to the Environmental Protection Agency.

A Journal investigation shows that Tesla bosses were aware of the problems but sometimes chose short-term fixes to avoid slowing production. Former employees said they feared they might lose their job if they drew attention internally to potential environmental hazards, because senior managers didn’t consider such issues to be mission critical. As head of the company, Musk set the tone, these people said, pushing employees to move fast and complaining frequently in public statements that unnecessary regulations are strangling the U.S."

Then there's SpaceX

"Musk’s rocket company, SpaceX, has also had run-ins with regulators in Texas and community pushback in Florida, including over the impact of its launches on local plants and animals. Federal regulators recently fined the company for dumping about 262,000 gallons of wastewater from launches into wetlands in Texas without a permit. SpaceX has denied the allegations. "
Tesla already paid $1.5 million back in February of this year due to mishandling and dumping of chemicals in a landfill vs recycling. They admitted "no wrongdoing ".
"The settlement was approved by Judge Jayne Lee on Thursday in San Joaquin County state court, just two days after the counties sued claiming Tesla improperly labeled waste, like paint materials, used batteries and diesel fuel, at its facilities across the state, and sent hazardous materials to landfills that cannot accept such materials." I suspect Tesla has a corporate culture like this but due to them being an electric car manufacturer most look the other way. Tesla executives also got irritated when it was discovered their giant supercharger station was being supported by diesel generators when the demand was high. So much for being green.
 
The interesting part about all of this, is how come this wasn’t reported on before? These violations have been going on for years now, so what took them so long?
I know if it was anybody else there'd be people protesting and picketing in front of the offices. Tesla gets a pass because "they're a green company. "
 
The Fremont factory is legendary. My 65 4-4-2 was made there; I have the build sheet. GM made trucks, El Caminos and other cars. They shuttered and along came NUMMI - Toyota and GM. Made the "Nova" small car that didn't sell well in Mexico. Then came the Corolla lines, Toyota PU lines and they were building a Tundra line before they shuttered. My 93 Toyota Deluxe strippie 4x4 was made there. After NUMMI shuttered. the local businesses suffered. Homes were lost, restaurants closed, on and on. NUMMI was the biggest employer in Fremont and one of the biggest non-tech in the greater Silicon Valley. So Musk wants to build a factory to make his EVs. He had a deal in the north of San Jose, then Fremont offered him a sweet heart deal to kick start the plant. He said it was way too big.

Today over 10,000 people work there and it is the most prolific car plant in the US. At its peak, NUMMI had maybe 6,000. Tesla has swallowed up all the surrounding land and several other real estate and buildings. It even has the old Solyndra buildings made famous by Mitt Romney making a tv ad there during his presidential campaign.

I've owned 4 cars made in Fremont. I toured NUMMI twice and just toured Tesla at the end of Q2 when we got our new Model 3. There were so many people picking up cars they started giving tours to manage the crowd. The Model Y is made in Fremont and Austin, but Fremont makes the Model 3 for the entire US.

I remember Tesla's 2 page ads in the SJ Merc-News encouraging ex-NUMMI workers to apply. Musk knew Toyota had prepared them well.

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