"The door to the plant’s giant casting furnace.. wouldn’t shut, spewing toxins into the air and raising temperatures for workers on the floor to as high as 100 degrees. Hazardous wastewater from production—containing paint, oil and other chemicals—was also flowing untreated into the city’s sewer, in violation of state guidelines... dumped toxic pollutants into the environment near Austin for months."
"Tesla violated air-pollution permits at its Fremont factory 112 times over the past five years and alleged it repeatedly failed to fix equipment designed to reduce emissions, releasing thousands of pounds of toxic chemicals in excess of permissible limits into the surrounding communities."
'One environmental-compliance staffer in the Austin plant claimed that “Tesla repeatedly asked me to lie to the government so that they could operate without paying for proper environmental controls,” '
"Austin Water regulators notified Tesla that it had violated its permit with the city when it discharged to the sewer system more than 9,000 gallons of wastewater that wasn’t properly treated for pH,... TCEQ notified Tesla of five violations, including exceeding its permitted emissions limit for certain air pollutants and not disclosing deviations."
"Tesla employees employed an “elaborate ruse” to hide the issues, adjusting the amount of fuel going into the furnace and temporarily closing the door ... These actions allowed Tesla to pass the important emissions test, according to the memo."
"The pond was filled with toxins, including sulfuric and nitric acids, and the algae-colored water had begun to smell of rotten eggs, former employees said. At one point, employees found a dead deer in the water, they said. For a time, Tesla discharged untreated pond water directly into the sewer system"
"Sometimes during rainstorms, Tesla discharged a sludgy mix of mud and chemicals from occasional spills outside the plant,"
"the company released 259,000 gallons of caustic water into the Austin sewer system"
"Environmental staff notified Austin Water, but one member refused to comply with a request from Tesla managers to lobby the regulator not to consider the violation as a “significant non-compliance,”.. Tesla fired the staffer for “pushing back on their requests” according to the memo."