The dispute over water for Tesla's Gigafactory in Brandenburg could soon be resolved. Among other things, because Brandenburg politicians have probably tricked with the permits for new wells.
Grünheide – In March last year, the Tesla plant in Grünheide, Brandenburg, was opened. Since its construction, it has been hailing fierce criticism, because: The groundwater in Brandenburg is scarce. Especially in the region where the gigafactory was built. Now Brandenburg's politicians are said to have tricked the state environmental agency into approving more water for the expansion of the Tesla gigafactory.
Tesla Gigafactory in Brandenburg: Since the planning, there has been a dispute over groundwater. © Thomas Bartilla/Imago
In March 2023, Brandenburg's Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke (SPD) wrote a letter to Tesla CEO Elon Musk. In this letter, Woidke assures Musk that he will do everything he can to solve Tesla's water problems. After all, Tesla is "with 10,000 employees, and 140 trainees [...] has become Brandenburg's largest industrial employer in less than a year."
Water for Tesla: Approved by the state parliament, not by the state
In order to solve the water problem, the Prime Minister assured local politicians in Brandenburg that he would break new ground. At the beginning of this year, a local politician spilled the beans in front of the camera of a local television station about what these new paths look like: The approval of test boreholes could be designed by the districts, no longer by Brandenburg's State Office for the Environment. As early as the end of 2022, earth exploration drilling for a well in the district of Märkisches-Oderland, approved by the lower water authority of the district, according to research by stern and RTL. The district is located a few kilometers north of the Tesla Gigafactory. Tesla applied to the district south of the factory to be allowed to drill for water itself.
All of these drilling is possible due to a legal loophole. Wells that produce a maximum of 2000 cubic meters per day do not have to be applied for at Brandenburg's highest environmental authority. And it doesn't matter how many wells are applied for: The permit here always runs through the water authorities of the districts.
New fountain tactics: "very worrying"
The water supplier for the region around the Gigafactory is the Strausberg-Erkner Water Association (WSE). The development was "very worrying," said WSE boss André Bähler of the star and RTL: "The interests of public services were apparently deliberately circumvented in order to push through a commercial settlement come hell or high water." The negative consequences for the environment are obvious. There was no environmental impact assessment, as the district claims that "a significant adverse impact on groundwater-dependent ecosystems [is] not to be expected," reports the star.
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Steffen Schorcht of the Grünheide citizens' initiative was even more explicit: "Woidke's further industrialization plans are leading to an ecological catastrophe." The companies would get the profit, "we the drought," he told the star. Tesla did not respond to the magazine's questions. Woidke's State Chancellery referred to the Greens-led State Ministry of the Environment. The replied to the star that "the public water supply in consideration of the interests of use expressly has priority". In water law proceedings, it is also examined "that the company's groundwater extraction does not have a detrimental effect on the public supply".
