Tesla has been hit with a lawsuit over alleged mishandling of hazardous waste

Tesla has been sued by 25 counties across California, accusing the electric car company of mishandling hazardous waste at its facilities.

The lawsuit was filed in San Joaquin County Superior Court on Tuesday. Alameda, San Joaquin, San Francisco and other counties are seeking civil penalties and an injunction that would require Tesla to properly manage its waste in the future. The state's civil penalty for a hazardous waste violation could cost Tesla up to $70,000 a day.

In the complaint, received from TechCrunch, Tesla allegedly mislabeled and dumped materials such as lead-acid and other batteries, paints, brake fluids, aerosols, antifreeze, acetone, diesel fuel and more at its manufacturing and service facilities throughout California. The company is also accused of improperly disposing of waste, both on-site and in landfills that cannot accept hazardous materials.

A Tesla representative did not immediately respond Rolling rockhis request for comment.

In 2019, the company owned by Elon Musk reached a resolution with the US Environmental Protection Agency regarding alleged federal hazardous waste violations at their Fremont auto plant. Tesla agreed to take steps to properly manage hazardous waste at its factory, buy $55,000 in emergency response equipment for the City of Fremont Fire Department and pay a $31,000 fine.

The EPA reached another deal with Tesla in 2022 — this time the company agreed to pay a penalty of $275,000 — after the federal agency claimed it found Clean Air Act violations at the Fremont facility.

Earlier this month, Reuters mentionted that Musk's brain-chip startup Neuralink was fined for violating US Department of Transportation (DOT) rules about moving hazardous materials. During 2023 inspections of the company's facilities in Texas and California, agency records showed DOT investigators found the company failed to register as a hazardous material transporter.