Tesla has resumed construction of its next Gigafactory following a move to block the project on environmental grounds. Hundreds of demonstrators protested that the project’s construction represented a threat to the local environment and managed to get work halted temporarily. They argued that the forest that was being cut down to make room for the factory represented too much damage. But after reviewing the case, a court has rejected the environmentalists’ protest. The case is controversial because it pits environmental concerns against the fact that the new factory is expected to create 12,000 new jobs to the region. It would be Tesla’s first car and battery in Europe and is scheduled to come on line in 2021. It promises to replant an area three times as large as the factory plot, but this has not appeased the environmentalists.
