Tesla (TLSA) has built its reputation on the goal of making transport cleaner and more sustainable. Despite that mission, the electric car manufacturer is being sued for failing to comply with the Clean Air Act.
Tesla to Be Sued for Air Pollution
This action refers to the company’s assembly plant in Fremont, California, being sued by the Environmental Democracy Project for releasing chemicals including arsenic, nitrogen oxides and cadmium. The Bay Area Air Quality Management District has already complained about what they called Tesla’s “unabated emissions” in the area.
The lawsuit was filed in a San Francisco federal court on Monday, claiming that TSLA has repeatedly violated the clean air law since the start of 2001 by allowing dangerous pollution into the air. This isn’t the first time the company has run into environmental issues. Twenty-five of the California counties are suing due to its toxic waste handling and Tesla was at number 89 on the list of the Toxic 100 Air Polluters in 2023.
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CEO Elon Musk has been involved in social media debates with climate activists and has called some of them “communists.” As part of Tesla’s Q1 earnings report, he told investors to think of the company’s value as being almost “entirely in terms of solving autonomy.” Tesla’s process of clearing forests on the outskirts of Berlin to build a new factor has also attracted the anger of activists.
Meanwhile, the largest union in Sweden – Unionen – has backed the strikes that the company faces in that country. Despite this, Musk said:
I think things are in reasonably good shape in Sweden. I feel good about the future. The long-term future of Tesla is strong.
