Alameda County ordered Tesla to cease production at its Fremont plant in a letter sent Monday to a top safety employee at the company, following reports that the site had reopened and resumed regular operations.
After Tesla CEO Elon Musk escalated his dispute with Alameda County with a lawsuit and a series of threatening tweets over the weekend, Musk announced vehicle production had resumed on Monday.
Alameda County Health Care Services Agency Director Colleen Chawla wrote to Laurie Shelby, Tesla Motors vice president of environment, health and safety, that the company must maintain only minimum operations at the plant, and any work outside of this is a violation of the order by the health officer.
The letter said Alameda County has been working with Tesla during the past two weeks to come to an agreement for reopening the plant that is in compliance with state and local shelter-in-place orders. Alameda County expected Tesla to submit a plan to the county for review on Monday, Chawla wrote.
"I look forward to continuing our productive conversations and moving Tesla to resuming safe operations," Chawla said in the letter. "Until then, however, you must maintain no more than Minimum Basic Operations."