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An administrative court allowed further clearing of 82.9 hectares of forest at Tesla's construction site, as there is no compelling reason to suspend it.
Tesla may continue to clear the pine plantation at its construction site in Grünheide. This decision was made by the Administrative Court of Frankfurt an der Oder, which rejected an urgent application of environmental associations to temporarily stop the clearance, RBB24 reports.
The Administrative Court made a decision on Thursday. It rejected an urgent application from environmental organizations NABU and the Green League to temporarily stop clearing the territory.
The State Environmental Agency initially approved the felling on November 30. However, on December 7, both associations filed an objection to the competent administrative court. In objection, they argued that deforestation would kill protected species such as the sand lizard and the smooth snake in their underground winter quarters. For this reason, on December 8, the court urgently terminated the preliminary clearing agreement.
However, today, according to a court order, further forest clearance has been resumed. The Frankfurt judges justified this by the fact that the consideration of nature conservation issues by the State Environmental Agency does not raise objections. The animal species listed by the associations are not found everywhere in the felled areas but prefer areas of open woodland and glades with a sufficient amount of sun and food. That is, the bulk of the reptiles lived outside the clearing area.
In addition, the court reiterated that it is not a natural forest that has grown, and the clearing refers to the removal of commercial forest, which is also defined as an industrial zone under the Building Planning Law.
Update:
Just a few hours after the decision referenced in our publication, the environmental organizations NABU and the Green League approached the Supreme Administrative Court to appeal the Administrative Court's decision. In consideration of the details of the case, further forest clearance by Tesla was suspended.
© 2020, Eva Fox. All rights reserved.
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About the Author
Eva Fox
Eva Fox joined Tesmanian in 2019 to cover breaking news as an automotive journalist. The main topics that she covers are clean energy and electric vehicles. As a journalist, Eva is specialized in Tesla and topics related to the work and development of the company.
