Tesla may face fines from the German government after an investigation was opened to see if the company installed pipes that could send industrial wastewater into a nearby drinking water protection area.
The Brandenburg Ministry of the Environment reports that ditches for the pipes were found at Tesla’s Gigafactory construction site during a routine investigation. It told Business Insider Germany that it stopped construction at the site from March 26 to April 12, 2021. Construction was allowed to resume after that.
The ministry has opened an investigation against the company for the illegal plumbing, though, which could have led to environmental harm. The single-wall welded pipes that were installed are not thick enough to properly ensure that the industrial wastewater flowing through them does not seep into the local drinking water, experts say.
“This destroys a basis of trust that I assumed was there, at least between the licensing authority and Tesla, that one can rely on mutual commitments, so to speak,” said Thorsten Deppner, a lawyer with the environmental association in Brandenburg.
Read More: Tesla’s German Gigafactory Said To Be Facing “Massive” Delays
That’s somewhat ironic given that Elon Musk has been openly criticizing the German government for its bureaucracy, accusing it of not understanding the urgency with which his company is fighting climate change.
Indeed, a report in February suggested that the Gigafactory may not be completed this summer. At the time, a number of critical buildings had not been finished and no building application had been submitted for the battery plant Tesla intends to build at the site.
Tesla acknowledged then that it might not be able to meet construction timelines due to the issues. With its two and a half week construction freeze, the opening date of its German factory is certainly put into question.
