Tesla reopens, defying orders
‘If anyone is arrested, I ask that it only be me,’ Musk declares in violating county health rules
Tesla, one of the Bay Area’s largest manufacturers, resumed operations at its Fremont plant Monday in a high-profile act of defiance of regional public health orders meant to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
CEO Elon Musk, who has threatened to move his electric car manufacturing company out of California and has filed suit over the local orders, announced the reopening on Twitter. “Tesla is restarting production today against Alameda County rules. I will be on the line with everyone else. If anyone is arrested, I ask that it only be me,” wrote Musk, who has called shelter-in-place rules “fascist” and initially refused to close his plant in March when the Bay Area issued its first-in-the-nation orders.
California last week eased its guidelines for manufacturing, but Alameda County and the rest of the Bay Area have kept stricter orders in place.
In a statement Monday afternoon, Alameda County said Tesla was only permitted to conduct “minimum basic operations” but that officials were expecting a “site-specific plan” by the end of the day as required under California’s new rules for manufacturing.
“We are addressing this matter using the same phased approach we use for other businesses which have violated the Order in the past, and we hope that Tesla will likewise comply without further enforcement measures,” the statement said.
Musk’s tweets came shortly after Gov. Gavin Newsom, asked repeatedly about Tesla and its 10,000 workers, said at his daily briefing that he believed Alameda County officials and Tesla had held “some very constructive conversations” focusing upon the health and safety of Tesla employees prior to their return to work.
“My belief and hope and expectation is that as early as next week, they will be able to resume (operations),” said Newsom, who added that he was not aware the plant was reopening. However, the governor said Musk sought clarification on the state order a number of days ago and that they “did have a conversation.” He said the state’s manufacturing modifications include car dealers, but he recognizes that some counties want to go further than the state’s orders currently allow while others, such as Alameda, don’t.
Alameda County Supervisor Scott Haggerty called the dispute with Tesla “unfortunate” and said he had been working with the company for the last three weeks to reach a reasonable resolution. “This is not about just Tesla but all businesses,” Haggerty said. “Mom-and-pop stores and large manufacturers — we need to work with COVID-19 and not hide from it, because it’s not going away. But people can’t stay out of work, either.”
The Fremont Police Department, tasked with enforcing Alameda County health orders in the city, indicated no arrests would be made at the plant on Monday.
The already strained relationship between Musk and Alameda County ratcheted up over the weekend when Tesla filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court alleging that the county’s “power grab not only defies the governor’s orders but offends the federal and California constitution.” In court documents, Tesla argued there’s no “substantial difference in the COVID-19 infection rate” between Alameda County and neighboring San Joaquin County, where the electric carmaker’s factory and other facilities continue to operate. Alameda County has a death rate of 4.2 per 100,000 residents, while San Joaquin County maintains a death rate of 3.7, according to data compiled by this news organization.
Unlike Tesla, some of the Bay Area’s other major manufacturers, including spacecraft equipment maker Lockheed Martin in Sunnyvale and fuel refiner Chevron in San Ramon, have been deemed essential businesses and therefore permitted to remain open though they have modified operations by instituting screening protocols and alternative work arrangements as needed.
Following a threat made by Musk this weekend to move his company to Nevada or Texas, a southern Texas judge Monday wrote a letter to Musk informing him that his county was available to accommodate him and had no public health orders. “All that is necessary is for you to pick out a location on which to build your manufacturing plants, something that I am happy to help you choose,” Hidalgo County Judge Richard Cortez wrote.
As of Monday, California had confirmed more than 69,000 cases of COVID-19 and nearly 2,800 deaths.
Newsom said governors and legislative leaders in the Western States Pact — comprised of California, Washington, Colorado, Oregon and Nevada — wrote to Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Monday asking for a $1 trillion relief package in response to mounting budget shortfalls.
Last week, Newsom forecast that the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic would create a staggering $54.3 billion hole in the state’s budget — almost three and a half times the size of California’s “rainy day” emergency reserves.