Tesla Runs Unauthorized Facility in Nevada, U.S.A. Dulmi, Fines to Pay...

*This content was translated by AI.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (NDEP) in Nevada has put a strong brake on Tesla's operation of an unlicensed facility in the Nevada Giga Nevada. Tesla agreed to pay a $200,000 (W260 million) fine for operating a battery recycling facility at its Gigafactory in northern Nevada without permission to operate air quality, according to a settlement document released in early February 2026.

The move came after Tesla was found to have been operating a battery shredding and disassembly system without a relevant permit for at least several years since May 2021. The facility includes a process of extracting high-value metals such as lithium and copper from waste battery cells, and NDEP investigators first identified the breach during a February 2023 site visit. Tesla did not deny the violation during law enforcement and reportedly signed a final agreement on January 30.

NDEP plans to deposit the fines collected this time into air quality management accounts and use them for clean truck and bus support programs that Tesla cannot directly benefit from. It is noteworthy that despite this violation, NDEP approved the "Class I Air Quality Operation Permit" for the Gigafactory in October last year. This is a permit granted to large facilities capable of emitting more than 100 tons of pollutants annually under the expansion of the facility, meaning Tesla's industrial activity scale has been incorporated into the formal management system.

However, the view of this incident is complicated. This is because Tesla has a history of successfully blocking environmental regulations on the battery industry in Nevada. Tesla lobbied, arguing that strict licensing requirements could weaken Nevada's competitiveness in the battery recycling industry, and in fact, NDEP's plan to strengthen the management of harmful substances has resulted in easing.

Experts analyze that the move suggests that regulators are monitoring the rapidly growing battery recycling industry in earnest. In particular, the agreement was announced at a time when Elon Musk's other company, The Boring Co., was investigated for hundreds of environmental violations during the Las Vegas tunnel excavation, which is expected to lead to further investigations into Musk's affiliates.

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*This content was translated by AI.