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"Tree clearance is proceeding in an orderly manner," Tesla said
on Friday. There were no environmentalists holding up the
process, Tesla's spokeswoman Kathrin Schira said in a statement.
The U.S. electric carmaker last November said it will build a
factory in Gruenheide in the eastern state of Brandenburg near
Berlin, creating up to 12,000 jobs, a decision that was
initially lauded as a vote of confidence in Germany.
Tesla wants to start production in 2021, but environmentalists
have exploited legal loopholes in the planning process to halt
felling of trees until an environmental audit is finalised to
gauge whether any rare species could be endangered.
A local court on Thursday stepped in and rejected
environmentalist efforts to stop the land being cleared of
trees, adding its ruling could not be appealed.
The court's decision was welcomed on Friday by Germany's
industry association BDI and economy minister Peter Altmaier.
"It's an important signal," Altmaier said on the sidelines of an
event in Lithuania.
Lawmakers from Germany's pro-business Christian Democrat and
Free Democrat parties had warned that the legal battle waged
against the Gigafactory would inflict serious damage on
Germany's image as a place to do business.
Activists from a group calling themselves the "Tree pirates"
with the motto "Up with trees, down with capitalism" on Friday
said it had occupied the forest to prevent Tesla from building
its plant.
"The factory is here mainly to build sports utility vehicles,"
the group said in a statement on Friday. "Snob cars which kill
people."
(Reporting by Edward Taylor and Christian Kraemer; editing by
David Evans)
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