Tesla’s Giga Berlin plans have the support of the German government’s Green Party. Various members of the political group have spoken out against the recent complaints the Brandenburg Green League has filed against Tesla.
“You don’t always have to be against everything,” Deputy Governing Mayor of Berlin and Green Party Member Ramona Pop said when speaking of the Green League, according to German media outlet Berliner-Zeitung.
The Romanian-born politician has been outspoken against the Green League since the Berlin-Brandenburg Higher Administrative Court ruled in favor of a complaint the environmental group submitted about Tesla. The decision ultimately resulted in a halt of the tree removal process Tesla had been working on for two days.
Pop recognizes the land Tesla purchased in January from previous landowners as a plantation of low-quality trees that have no real environmental importance. “How absurd to declare a pine plantation to be a forest,” she said.
The pine trees that Tesla’s construction crews have been removing have already been deemed to be of “inferior quality” by Grünheide Mayor Arne Christiani. The trees have been used for commercial cardboard production and give a very little amount of positive environmental impact. Local agencies requested that at least half of the trees that are replanted in surrounding areas must be deciduous and provide some sort of environmental benefit.
Martin Kühne of the Cottbus environmental group has also been open about his criticism of the Green League. The Deputy Group Leader of Cottbus believes legal action should not have been brought on by the environmental group, and if there was a problem, it should have been confronted by government officials.
“The right to bring legal action on our behalf belongs in competent and reliable hands,” he said.
Interestingly enough, politicians who represent the country’s economic and environmental interests are vocally supportive of the tree-removal process because they acknowledge Tesla’s positive long-term impact. Pop believes those responsible for halting the clearing of the land should remove their complaint and “make Tesla’s future investment possible quickly. For clean mobility and climate protection.”
Brandenburg Economic Minister Jörg Steinbach, for his part, believes Tesla will be able to continue its progress next week.
