Environmentalists are against the clearing of a forest near Berlin for the new plant of the electric car maker Tesla. Now they have achieved success in the higher administrative court.
Berlin / Grünheide (dpa) - The Higher Administrative Court (OVG) Berlin-Brandenburg has temporarily stopped the ongoing clearing work on the site for the planned Tesla factory in Grünheide.
It thus complied with an application from the Brandenburg Green League, as the court announced in the evening (file number: OVG 11 S 8.20). On Friday, the environmental association, together with the Association for Landscape Management and Species Protection in Bavaria (VLAB), failed before the administrative court in Frankfurt (Oder) to prevent the tree felling work with urgent applications.
The now ordered stop applies until the Green League complaint against the Frankfurt decision has been decided, the OVG decision says. The advanced clearing work made it necessary to temporarily ban tree felling work, as it could be completed within a further three days. Also, according to the OVG, it cannot be assumed that "the Green League's request for legal protection is obviously hopeless from the outset".
The administrative court, on the other hand, had ruled that the state environmental agency was unable to object to the consideration of nature protection issues. The tree felling work could therefore be continued. (VG 5 L 69/20) They promptly continued on Saturday. Bit by bit, the heavy technology had been working on the 90 hectare site since Thursday afternoon. Trees were felled and the trunks sawn into pieces about two meters long. The State Office for the Environment had given the permit ahead of time, although the permit to build the factory was still missing. Tesla has acquired a total of 300 hectares.
Objections to the approval process are still possible until March 5; they will be discussed in public from March 18. Only when all requirements have been met after the application has been checked will approval be given. From July 2021, Tesla plans to produce up to 500,000 electric cars a year in Grünheide.