Tesla CEO Elon Musk lashed out at Alameda County public health officials Saturday on Twitter, claiming his car company will leave California and sue the county over coronavirus lockdown orders that have shuttered its Fremont factory.
“Tesla is filing a lawsuit against Alameda County immediately. The unelected & ignorant ‘Interim Health Officer’ of Alameda is acting contrary to the Governor, the President, our Constitutional freedoms & just plain common sense!” Musk tweeted Saturday morning, referring to Health Officer Dr. Erica Pan.
He continued in another tweet, “Frankly, this is the final straw. Tesla will now move its HQ and future programs to Texas/Nevada immediately. If we even retain Fremont manufacturing activity at all, it will be dependen (sic) on how Tesla is treated in the future. Tesla is the last carmaker left in CA.”
Frankly, this is the final straw. Tesla will now move its HQ and future programs to Texas/Nevada immediately. If we even retain Fremont manufacturing activity at all, it will be dependen on how Tesla is treated in the future. Tesla is the last carmaker left in CA.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 9, 2020
Musk, who has 33.9 million Twitter followers, encouraged Tesla shareholders to file a class-action lawsuit against Alameda County. And he continued to belittle Pan, writing that “Tesla knows far more about what needs to be done to be safe through our Tesla China factory experience than an (unelected) interim junior official in Alameda County.”
It’s the latest development in a now months-long dispute between Tesla and Alameda County health officers over whether the company can keep making cars at the Fremont facility through the shelter-in-place order.
In mid-March, Tesla spent days arguing with the county over whether the car company was considered an essential business under Bay Area shelter-in-place orders instituted on March 16. The company later backed down and suspended operations on March 23.
This week, Alameda County’s public health department shot down a plan Tesla officials had announced to resume operations on Friday.
Musk’s tweets refer to a distinction that confused and frustrated several local businesses as much of California begins emerging from coronavirus lockdowns: While new state rules started allowing certain retail and manufacturing businesses to resume operations on Friday, the guidelines don’t apply in the Bay Area, where more stringent county orders keeping those businesses closed remain in effect.
Tesla officials tried to contend that their company constitutes an “energy distribution” manufacturer, which revised local orders allow to operate. But the county shot down that argument.
“If a business does not meet the limited criteria stated in that Order to re-open, then they are out of compliance,” county health department spokeswoman Neetu Balram told this news organization in a statement Friday. “Tesla has been informed that they do not meet those criteria and must not re-open.”
Neither Alameda County nor Tesla could be immediately reached for comment Saturday morning.
Check back for updates.
