Gov. Polis Tells Elon Musk 'We Want You Here In Colorado'
(CBS4) -- Tesla CEO Elon Musk claims he isn't being treated fairly in California and he's threatening to move some of his operations elsewhere. On Wednesday, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis made it clear he'd be welcome here.
"We want you here in Colorado, Elon Musk," Polis tweeted. He also listed some things he thinks would make our state a great fit for Tesla.
"Colorado is great," Musk replied. "I think your policies make a lot of sense."
On Monday, Musk re-opened his production facility in Fremont, California fight -- defying Alameda County's coronavirus shelter-in-place order.
Musk says other automakers have been allowed to continue business -- and claims he's being singled out.
"This is super messed up!" he tweeted.
On Wednesday, a reporter asked Gov. Polis why he supported Musk after he defied the public health order.
"Nothing associated with transportation was ever shut [in Colorado.] We consider transportation to be an essential part of our economy. CDOT work continued, road construction work, that all continued through the crisis," Polis answered.
"I always pursue every opportunity to attract jobs to Colorado," Polis added.
"I wanted to highlight that Colorado is the best possible place for electric vehicle manufacturing in the country. And we really pride ourselves on leading the way in electric vehicles and bringing an electric vehicle manufacturing company or electric truck manufacturing company to Colorado, to take advantage of our strong business environment," Polis stated. "Our skilled workforce and the ability to attract and motivate workers from across the world have the best talents and engineers to come work in our great state."
Health officers for Alameda County said on Twitter late Tuesday that the Tesla plant will be able to ramp up operations this week and begin to manufacture vehicles this coming Monday with safety measures in place to protect workers.
