>>1760745> What exactly do you know about the gigafactory?>The amount of trees that they had to cut down? They cut down 300 hectares at first. Now they're working on other aspects of the plant, which were not included in the official plan but plainly obvious they'd need them down the road like a big substation. The state-owned forestry service got told to sell them whatever they wanted, without even receiving a proper financial compensation. What they received for the 300 hectares was not even equalling the worth of the wood of the pines standing on the area.
Tesla only received the final building permit after most of the factory was built - something a regular person or "normal" company could not even dream of. All of this happens cause the federal governments and the governments of Berlin and Brandenburg are eager to boost the local economy and establish a center of tech-industry here like bavaria has been. Only difference is that we neither have the infrastructure or the personell to cater to this. Brandenburg is very low density for german standards, one of the most forested states and traditionally very dependent on agriculture and forestry. Also pretty poor from 40 years of commie dictatorship and the shift of production to the west after the reunification.
>How much it pollutes the nearby area?Don't know much about their pollution, but their need for water is immense. Per annum, their factory is estimated to consume as much water as a city of 30.000. All of this in one of the dryest districts of the country. When confronted with this, Musk said "we're not in a desert." which shows how little he understands about the topic.
>How about wildlife habitat?The affects on wildlife are not so clear yet, but we can assume that the coming years won't be great for the wildlife in the area. Nearby is the nature reserve Löcknitztal, where european swamp turtles are living, the huge water demand could also affect local eagles and amphibous life.
