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Residents urge Travis County to reconsider Tesla tax rebates, cite safety and environmental violations
Summary
Multiple Travis County residents told the Commissioners Court during public comment that Tesla has not met contract requirements for the Gigafactory and urged the court to cancel or withhold tax rebates, citing workplace deaths, OSHA and TCEQ citations, and environmental harms.
Dozens of Travis County residents used the court’s public-comment period on Sept. 9 to urge commissioners to stop or rescind tax rebates awarded to the Tesla Gigafactory, saying the company has not met obligations in its 2020 agreement and has harmed workers and the environment.
Speakers described safety incidents, regulatory citations and alleged misconduct at Tesla’s Austin-area plant. “Tesla has broken its promises,” said Ethan McBride, who told the court the company “slaved away in life-threatening 100 degree heat” while a plant furnace was broken and alleged that workers hid the issue from regulators. Christina DeStefano, who identified herself as a constituent from ZIP code 78748, told the court that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has cited Tesla five times since 2021, including for wastewater and for maintenance of an evaporation pond containing sulfuric and nitric acids.
The commenters referenced specific parts of the economic development agreement. John Joyner read Section 1.5, noting the contract’s stated intent to create “a state-of-the-art clean manufacturing facility with a sensitivity to environmental impact.” Chanda Smith cited Sections 4 and 4.2 and said those sections require Tesla to “operate lawfully, protect our environment, and maintain exemplary workplace safety standards in exchange for millions of taxpayer-backed incentives.” Several speakers also mentioned two on-site worker deaths and OSHA penalties; Christina DeStefano noted OSHA assessed approximately $50,000 related to an electrocution death she identified as Victor Gomez.
Commenters asked the court to use the county’s contractual remedies for noncompliance. “We ask you to cancel the agreement for noncompliance as described in Sections 8.59,” said Chanda Smith. Speakers requested greater transparency in the county’s compliance review and said public records requests produced heavily redacted materials.
Court members did not act on the public comments during the meeting. The remarks were made during the early public-comment portion of the Sept. 9 agenda and were not presented as motions or court findings.
Why this matters: The county committed public incentives in 2020 tied to operational, safety and hiring conditions. County leaders will decide later whether the contract’s compliance conditions have been satisfied and whether to move forward with planned incentive payments. For now, the public comments place additional pressure on staff and elected officials to document any compliance findings before releasing taxpayer funds.
