Tesla has been sued by 25 California counties alleging the automaker has repeatedly mismanaged hazardous waste at facilities across the state. The lawsuit was filed after months of settlement talks that apparently broke down.
The complaint, filed in San Joaquin County Superior Court, states that Tesla improperly labeled and disposed of materials such as “lead acid batteries and other batteries,” paints, brake fluids, aerosols, antifreeze, acetone, diesel fuel and others at manufacturing and service facilities in all its facilities. the State. Tesla also allegedly improperly disposes of waste, both on-site and in landfills that cannot accept hazardous waste.
District attorneys in each county are seeking an injunction to force Tesla to properly handle the waste at the facility in the future as well as civil penalties. Tesla could be on the hook for up to $70,000 per violation per day, according to Reuterswhich the suit first mentioned.
Tesla was first revealed in 2022 archiving with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it was being investigated by prosecutors’ offices from across the state of California regarding its waste management practices. The company said it had “implemented various corrective measures, including conducting training and audits, as well as improvements to its site waste management programs.”
In October 2023, the company he said was in settlement talks with those prosecutors’ offices. The lawsuit suggests those talks ended without a resolution. Representatives for the San Francisco and San Joaquin district attorney’s offices, which led the investigation, did not immediately respond to a question about what happened to the settlement talks.
Tesla has come under scrutiny in the past for the environmental impact of the work it does in California. The company arranged with the Environmental Protection Agency in 2019 over a series of violations at its Fremont, Calif., plant, one of which involved labeling hazardous waste. That resulted in a $31,000 fine and a $55,000 order to cover the cost of emergency response equipment for first responders. Tesla also paid a $275,000 fine in 2022 for violating the Clean Air Act at the same factory.
