Tesla sued by California counties over handling of hazardous waste

U.S. electric vehicle maker Tesla has been sued by a group of 25 counties in California for allegedly mishandling hazardous waste materials at facilities throughout the western U.S. state for years, reported Xinhua.

Tesla, previously headquartered in Palo Alto, California, moved its corporate headquarters to Austin, Texas in 2021, but maintains its engineering headquarters and the high-volume electric vehicle factory in California.

The company has been improperly labeled and disposed of hazardous materials at its production and service facilities and at landfills that can't accept hazardous waste, said the district attorneys representing those counties in the complaint filed in San Joaquin County Superior Court on Tuesday.

The hazardous materials include lead acid lubricating oils, brake fluid, lead acid batteries, aerosols, antifreeze, cleaning fluids, propane, paint, acetone, liquefied petroleum gas and diesel fuel, according to the 22-page document.

The counties accused Tesla of violating state unfair business and hazardous waste management laws. The administrative and civil penalty for hazardous waste violations in California is up to 70,000 U.S. dollars per violation per day.

The plaintiffs are seeking civil penalties and an injunction that would require Tesla to properly handle the waste in the future.

The district attorneys have been investigating Tesla over its handling of hazardous waste for years. The company revealed in a 2022 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that "district attorneys in certain California counties" investigated its "waste segregation practices."

The lawsuit is not the first time Tesla has faced allegations related to its hazardous waste management practices.

The company reached a settlement in 2019 with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over alleged federal hazardous waste violations at its factory in Fremont, California.

In that deal, Tesla agreed to take steps to properly manage waste at the facility and pay a fine of 31,000 dollars.

In 2022, the company reached another deal with the EPA in which it agreed to pay a 275,000-dollar penalty after the federal agency found the company failed to keep records and to implement plans to minimize air pollutants from painting operations at its Fremont factory.