A stream of bright green chemicals leaked from Tesla’s Palo Alto campus and flowed into a storm drain and creek, prompting a hazardous cleanup response.
The fluorescent fluid was seen flowing along a road near Tesla’s headquarters and dumping into a storm drain that connects to the Matadero Creek on Oct. 17, Palo Alto officials said in a statement.
The substance was identified as sodium hydroxide, an additive used in cooling systems; the liquid does not pose a risk to life or health, officials said in a statement on Thursday.
A fire department report said the fluid was used to cool the Tesla artificial intelligence supercomputer.
Tesla doesn’t have a permit to store this type of chemical, officials said, and the electric car company could be fined.
Initially, officials said the fire department recovered more than 550 gallons of a chemical and water mixture from the storm drain.
However, on Thursday, an updated statement said Tesla reported 12 gallons of sodium hydroxide was released from its facility at 1501 Page Mill Rd.
The cleanup continued this week as officials found evidence of the spill in additional spots along the creek, including residential areas on Park Boulevard, Lambert Avenue and Ash Street. The work will extend into next week.
While officials say there’s no immediate health risk, testing is still underway to identify the material, the city manager’s office said.
The spill was first reported by Palo Alto Online and the Palo Alto Daily Post.
A report by the state’s Department of Emergency Services said the spill happened shortly after 4:40 p.m. on Oct. 17 and was caused by “human error.”
Palo Alto resident Mike Hedblom filmed the chemicals oozing down the street and reported the spill to the city, Hedblom’s wife Nancy Crop spoke to The Standard and wondered why Tesla did not immediately report the incident.
“To me, the heart of it is: Why did it take my husband on a walk to report it?” Crop said.
She said parents who had kids playing in the creek that day were freaked out until they realized their children had been upstream from the spill and were unaffected.
“The regulatory agencies, the City of Palo Alto and the fire department are meeting with the business to ensure proper cleanup,” Santa Clara Valley Water District spokesperson Matt Keller told The Standard in an email.
Tesla and the company it hired to clean up the spill, Clean Harbors, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.