Tesla 'gigafactory': Will California waive environmental laws to get it?

When Tesla announced the short list of possible locations for its lithium-ion cell 'gigafactory,' California wasn't on it. Now, California governor Jerry Brown's office is negotiating an incentive package for the Tesla gigafactory that would include waiving certain parts of a decades-old state environmental law.

|
Ng Han Guan/AP/File
A worker cleans a Tesla Model S sedan before a event to deliver the first set of cars to customers in Beijing. According to reports, California is trying to work out a deal that would waive environmental laws and put the state back in contention as a site for Tesla's new gigafactory.

When Tesla Motors announced the short list of possible locations for its lithium-ion cell "Gigafactory," California wasn't on it.

The Silicon Valley electric-car maker is headquartered in Palo Alto and builds the Model S in Fremont, about 30 miles away.

But it chose Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, and Texas as the finalists for the Gigafactory site.

Quickly, however, California tried to lure Tesla back and get back into contention--despite a reputation for onerous regulation that discourages large manufacturing enterprises.

Now, the state may waive environmental rules that would normally make construction of such a large manufacturing facility more difficult, according to a report in The Los Angeles Times.

State Senator Ted Gaines told the Times that Governor Jerry Brown's office is negotiating an incentive package for Tesla that would include waiving certain parts of the nearly half-century-old California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

The statute requires state and local government agencies to conduct reviews of new development projects, to address potential threats to the environment.

Under the proposed incentive program, this time-consuming review process would be curtailed, which should appeal to Tesla as the company works toward its goal of full battery-cell production by 2017.

That's when production of its smaller and less expensive Model III electric sedan is scheduled to begin--but, CEO Elon Musk has said, the car can't go into production if the gigafactory isn't producing battery packs for it by then.

State officials are also reportedly considering letting Tesla begin construction, and perform damage mitigation later, as well as limiting lawsuits that could slow down the project.

In addition to the regulatory shortcuts, the California government could well offer Tesla tax breaks that add up to around $500 million--about 10 percent of the gigafactory's anticipated cost.

Tesla acknowledged in its recent quarterly-earnings call that excavation work at a site in Reno, Nevada, had been completed.

It is doing initial site-preparation work in at least two sites, so that it can proceed immediately to construction once it makes the final decision on where to put the gigafactory.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Tesla 'gigafactory': Will California waive environmental laws to get it?
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/In-Gear/2014/0812/Tesla-gigafactory-Will-California-waive-environmental-laws-to-get-it
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe