This is entertaining and crazy to watch. Check this out:
A German court on Sunday ordered Tesla, Inc. to stop clearing forest land near the capital Berlin to build its first European car and battery factory, a victory for local environmental activists.The U.S. electric carmaker announced plans last November to build a Gigafactory in Gruenheide in the eastern state of Brandenburg, where unemployment, at 5.7% as of mid-year 2019, is about 15% higher than the 5.0% German average.The court ruling, by the higher administrative court of the states of Berlin and Brandenburg, comes after the state environmental office gave a green light to clear 92 hectares of forest for the plant.Planning permission has not yet been granted to build the Gigafactory, however, meaning U.S. entrepreneur Elon Musk’s company is preparing the ground at its own risk.
So where do we go next? Who knows but I have a few questions for the German courts:
First, would they prefer that Mr. Musk take the plant to another country? I’m sure that there many willing to offer him space and perhaps a tax benefit as well; and,
Second, what about the jobs and indirect benefits of manufacturing electric cars? Who is going to replace those jobs or the other economic benefits?
We will watch to see where this goes. I’m all for protecting trees or landscapes. However, unemployed people don’t usually enjoy nature as much as the happily employed.
PS: You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.
