Tesla must fix air quality problems at its electric vehicle manufacturing facility in the San Francisco Bay Area after racking up more than 100 violations for allegedly releasing toxic emissions into the atmosphere over the last five years, an air quality board said Tuesday.
The Bay Area Air Quality Management District planned to issue a written abatement order later this week after Tuesday’s announcement. Each of the 112 violations can emit hundreds of pounds of illegal air pollution, the board said.
The plant is in the city of Fremont, in the East Bay, and the agency’s independent hearing board pointed to the facility’s paint shop operations as a specific problem. The board has ordered Tesla to hire an independent consultant and develop a proposed implementation plan for approval, which it then must execute to stop the toxic emissions.
Congress writes the law, then the EPA supports local and state agencies like the DEP in defining processes to uphold it. If the EPA doesn’t have the authority, then it’s likely the state programs don’t either. It would be up to the governor to empower the DEP or other local environmental enforcement agencies to have more authority than the EPA.