Tesla could get enviro exemption

California is known for egalitarianism and extreme environmental laws. But some animals are more equal than others. The Times reported:

The state would exempt Tesla Motors Inc. from some of its toughest environmental regulations as part of an incentive package being discussed with the automaker to build a massive battery factory in California, a key state senator said.

“It would help them speed the process,” Sen. Ted Gaines said after a Friday meeting with Tesla officials at the company’s Palo Alto headquarters and assembly line in Fremont, east of San Francisco.

The plan being negotiated in the office of Gov. Jerry Brown could grant the automaker waivers for significant portions of the nearly half-century-old California Environmental Quality Act, Gaines said. The proposal is alarming some environmentalists.

In that case, why not revisit and revise state environmental laws that affect everybody? We know the reason: Because Tesla and other electric cars are trendy. Even though only rich folks can afford a Tesla, it seems a “California car,” a harbinger of the future — a kind of personal version of the high-speed rail project.

Tesla also could get $500 million in tax breaks under bipartisan legislation. Well, why not give every company in the state a break from California’s punitive tax laws? Why does Jose’s Muffler Shop have to pay higher tax rates than Tesla?

Again, it’s trendy. Keeping Tesla manufacturing in California is important so another business doesn’t move to Texas, New Mexico, Arizona or Nevada — states trying to snare Tesla’s “gigafactory.” With that at stake, who cares if over-taxation and over-regulation ruin Jose’s Muffler Shop or Anita’s Knitting Factory?

They’re just little people. They don’t have outlets in Fashion Island and other elite shopping malls the way Tesla does. They just lead their lives and, if ruined, perhaps quietly leave, only noticed as a statistic in an economic study a couple years later.