Photo: Spree Journal Erkner via Faceook
A small fire that broke at a recycling facility on the premises of Giga Berlin offered critics a new reason to demand a production halt. According to several environmentalist organizations, it’s again about the water resources, which were supposedly contaminated by the water used to extinguish the fire.
The German environmental organizations were a thorn in Tesla’s back ever since the EV maker eyed Gruenheide as the location for its fourth gigafactory. Protests and legal action delayed the Giga Berlin opening and ramping production, with the environmentalists claiming that the plant would endanger the water reserves in the area. When a fire broke out at Giga Berlin on Monday, the environmentalist saw fresh reasons to bring the water resources back into focus. They demanded an immediate halt of the plant’s activities, no less.
This time, it’s not the depletion of the water resources but the possible contamination of the water reserves with the water used by firefighters to extinguish the fire. The reason is even more laughable when you consider the fire affected a pile of cardboard at a shredding facility away from the production area.
According to MOZ.de, around 800 cubic meters of paper, cardboard, and wood were burned during the incident. The fire started from a pressing machine used to compact the cardboard ballots at a packaging recycling plant on the northeastern part of the factory site. The machine’s tires exploded due to the intense heat, which set more cardboard and wood chips on fire. It took firefighters four hours to put out the fire.
As confirmed by the district fire chief Klaus-Peter Schulz, the recycling facility is placed on a concrete base, so the extinguishing water could not have penetrated the ground. Moreover, a company was commissioned to recover the water from the premises. Nevertheless, this didn’t stop the environmentalist organization from demanding a production halt.
The Strausberg Erkner Water Association (WSE) asked for “fast, courageous measures to prevent the penetration of pollutants into the aquifer.” At the same time, Citizen’s Initiative Gruenheide (BI) called for an “immediate production stop until the causes and circumstances have been clarified.”
The fire is not the first incident at Giga Berlin that reignited activism. During the first month of operation, a minor paint spill was inflated to catastrophic proportions by the same organizations that demand a production halt today. Back then, they tried to stop production at Giga Berlin. Still, the local authorities dismissed the case, saying that Tesla took the appropriate measures in dealing with the spill.
This time, it’s not the depletion of the water resources but the possible contamination of the water reserves with the water used by firefighters to extinguish the fire. The reason is even more laughable when you consider the fire affected a pile of cardboard at a shredding facility away from the production area.
According to MOZ.de, around 800 cubic meters of paper, cardboard, and wood were burned during the incident. The fire started from a pressing machine used to compact the cardboard ballots at a packaging recycling plant on the northeastern part of the factory site. The machine’s tires exploded due to the intense heat, which set more cardboard and wood chips on fire. It took firefighters four hours to put out the fire.
As confirmed by the district fire chief Klaus-Peter Schulz, the recycling facility is placed on a concrete base, so the extinguishing water could not have penetrated the ground. Moreover, a company was commissioned to recover the water from the premises. Nevertheless, this didn’t stop the environmentalist organization from demanding a production halt.
The Strausberg Erkner Water Association (WSE) asked for “fast, courageous measures to prevent the penetration of pollutants into the aquifer.” At the same time, Citizen’s Initiative Gruenheide (BI) called for an “immediate production stop until the causes and circumstances have been clarified.”
The fire is not the first incident at Giga Berlin that reignited activism. During the first month of operation, a minor paint spill was inflated to catastrophic proportions by the same organizations that demand a production halt today. Back then, they tried to stop production at Giga Berlin. Still, the local authorities dismissed the case, saying that Tesla took the appropriate measures in dealing with the spill.
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