Bay Area Air District slaps Tesla's Fremont factory with 17 violations in one day
The Bay Area Air District has issued Tesla 17 new notices of violation at its Fremont factory, according to public records.
The notices, issued Friday, include alleged violations of unauthorized construction and operations and noncompliance with federal regulatory requirements. The latest round of notices brings Tesla's Bay Area alleged violation count to 45 just this year, according to the air district's violation database.
Air district spokesperson Miranda Iglesias confirmed the district was investigating Tesla for allegedly submitting inaccurate emissions reports between July 2025 and March 2026 but declined to comment on the specifics due to the ongoing investigation.
"The Air District is actively working to resolve Tesla's ongoing noncompliance issues," Iglesias wrote in an email to SFGATE, adding that any resolution would come with a civil penalty.
Tesla did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Tesla's Fremont facility, a regional hub for its electric vehicle production and humanoid robot, has long been the subject of regional and federal environmental regulatory investigations.
In the past five years, the air district has issued 369 notices of violation to the company, mostly at its Fremont facility. Though all of the violations are still pending, meaning the agency has not resolved the issues, data from the past five years does not show any financial penalties associated with the alleged violations. Iglesias told SFGATE that penalties come at the end of the enforcement process, often with several addressed at the same time.
Tesla has paid penalties in the past. According to Berkeleyside, the company ranked eighth among the most fined polluters in the Bay Area from 2015 to 2025, with $502,500 in penalties. The figure falls significantly behind the three refineries in the top three slots, with Valero at nearly $82 million, Chevron at $15 million and Tesoro at $9 million, the outlet reported.
In recent years, civil settlements have been the more frequent avenue for Tesla to address alleged violations in the Bay Area. In 2021, the air district announced a $1 million settlement with Tesla to resolve 33 notices of violation. The alleged violations included excessive emission, unpermitted equipment modification or installment, failure to conduct required emissions testing, failure to maintain certain records, and failure to report information to the air district in a timely manner.
The settlement also required the company to install a solar microgrid and storage system on Tesla's dime to reduce energy costs and pollution in the Fremont area. Officials said in 2021 that the violations addressed by the settlement were corrected and the facility was back in compliance.
"This settlement requires Tesla's compliance with Air District regulations at its Fremont facility and demonstrates the Air District's continuing efforts to ensure strict compliance with air pollution regulations while seeking mutually beneficial solutions for the community," said then-executive officer of the air district Jack Broadbent.
The Environmental Protection Agency also settled with the company in 2022 over alleged Clean Air Act violations at its Fremont factory between 2016 and 2019, with Tesla agreeing to pay a $275,000 penalty. Federal regulators settled a separate grievance in 2019 that led to Tesla purchasing $55,000 in emergency response equipment for Fremont firefighters.
And in 2024, 25 California district attorneys, including San Francisco's Brooke Jenkins, announced a $1.5 million settlement in a civil environmental prosecution case for alleged illegal disposal of hazardous waste near facilities where Tesla operates. During an investigation initiated in 2018, undercover investigators at the SF District Attorney's Office's Environmental Division said they found illegal disposal of hazardous waste at several Tesla car servicing centers.
As a result of the settlement, the company was ordered to hire a contractor to conduct annual waste audits of trash containers at 10% of its facilities for five years. At the time, Jenkins said the company cooperated with the investigation and took steps to mitigate hazardous waste from being taken to landfills.
"While electric vehicles may benefit the environment, the manufacturing and servicing of these vehicles still generates many harmful waste streams," Jenkins said in 2024.
Copyright 2026 Tribune Content Agency. All Rights Reserved.
This story was originally published June 9, 2026 at 7:05 PM.