I mean, the feds have done multiple on-site inspections since the (unenforced?) BAAQMD violations dropped, and multiple paint shop sources told me that Tesla rampantly violated its permit conditions for years... so the only surprise here is media outlets actually reporting on it. https://twitter.com/business/status/1387382106775556097

The EPA seems to be saying that Tesla has been in a state of "high priority violation" of the Clean Air Act since the start of 2019.

You know, like I've been trying to say. https://echo.epa.gov/detailed-facility-report?fid=110000482898

By the way, the BAAQMD ( @AirDistrict) seems to have stopped publishing any documents related to Tesla or the double-digit Clean Air Act violations it has been sitting on for years now. At least the EPA seems to care about Tesla's entitlement to non-compliance with enviro regs!

This is how casual Tesla has been about its Clean Air Act noncompliance: it uploaded video evidence to the internet. Those blue filters were just jammed into the non-functioning overspray control system. Definitely not compliant. More here: https://www.thedrive.com/tech/28339/tesla-air-quality-compliance-violations-center-on-troubled-paint-shop

Tesla's "mission" is a cheap façade, barely concealing their core conviction: anything that inconveniences the company can be ignored, and the consequences can be covered up. This is obvious in a long pattern of behavior, stretching from Fremont to Grünheide

The fact that @AirDistrict has sat on this undeniable pattern of impunity to environmental regulations, even as an elementary school and family housing have been built literally next door to the Fremont plant, shows who they really serve... and it's not the community.

The reason I've been carrying on a fairly lonely watch on this issue is not that I think it's the biggest threat to the environment, but that the pattern of impunity all but guarantees Tesla will continue to treat environmental regulations as optional. How bad must it become?

I will say, in the media's defense: air quality regulation is one of the hardest topics I have ever covered. The complexity of regulations, compliance, and enforcement is truly staggering. Few reporters have the bandwidth to learn it and report on a complex enforcement situation.

If you do want to take on this challenge, all my initial reporting is linked below, my DMs are open, and I'm willing to help however I can. I hope someone does in the next year or so, before a new elementary school opens next door. https://twitter.com/Tweetermeyer/status/1197913612943151110