US electric car giant Tesla resumed clearing forest for its first European "Gigafactory" near Berlin Friday after beating back a legal challenge from environmentalists, local authorities confirmed. "The work has started again," said a spokesperson for Gruenheide, a municipality in the state of Brandenburg where the factory is to be built.
On Thursday, a local administrative court lifted an injunction that had prevented Tesla from clearing a 90-hectare (220-acre) area of forest.
The injunction was issued last weekend after a complaint by the local environmental group "Green League".
Aside from claims that the factory would harm the drinking water supply and lead to more traffic, the group questioned whether the deforestation was legal.
Under pressure to open the factory on schedule in 2021, Tesla agreed with local authorities to begin cutting trees "at its own risk" while awaiting an official authorisation expected in March.