Tesla Pays $275,000 Fine to EPA for Violating Clean Air Act

Tesla paid a fine to the EPA or the Environment Protection Agency of the United States after settling its violation of the Clean Air Act on its facilities in Fremont, California.

Tesla Settles Fine to EPA

As per a news story by CNBC, the US EPA ruled out that the EV tech giant of billionaire Elon Musk, Tesla, has violated the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants for Surface Coating of Automobiles, which is a regulation from the federal Clean Air Act.

The Musk-led EV tech firm has already agreed to pay the US agency $275,000 fine to settle its Clean Air Act violation.

Tesla vs. Clean Air Act

EPA said that the Clean Air Act violation of Tesla was from Oct. 2016 up until Sept. 2019 in its car assembly facilities in Fremont.

In a press release, the US agency said that the facilities of Tesla used to apply a coating material on its cars that contains hazardous chemicals, which are considered as air pollutants, such as xylene, formaldehyde, naphthalene, and ethylbenzene,

The hazardous coating materials that Tesla was using from 2016 to 2019 could potentially be both health and environmental risk for the communities within the vicinity of the Fermont factory, according to a report by TechCrunch.

On top of that, the US EPA said that the EV maker failed to "develop and/or implement a work practice plan to minimize hazardous air-pollutants emissions from the storage and mixing of materials used in vehicle-coating operations."

What's more, the US agency also found out that Tesla has been missing its monthly emissions calculations, which should have proven that the car firm has been complying to the federal government.

Tesla and Clean Air

CNBC noted in the same report that the penalty that Tesla paid to the EPA to settle its Clean Air Act violation is "immaterial" to the recent earnings of the EV maker, which is at a staggering $2.3 billion.

It is worth noting that Tesla is touted to be a firm that provides consumers a sustainable alternative, selling electric cars and access to solar power.

Meanwhile, the EPA went on to reveal that Tesla has finally corrected its aforementioned violations not just by merely paying the settlement fine, but by also complying to the regulations.

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by Teejay Boris