One of Elon Musk’s projects is called “The Boring Company,” which has already landed some massive projects, including several loop projects in Las Vegas.
I mention those projects because Musk’s company was just given a very hard rap on the knuckles related to them.
According to a recent report, Musk's firm has been hit with nearly 800 violations stemming from its work on the Las Vegas tunnel project.
Musk has two projects in Las Vegas run by the Boring Company.
The first is the Las Vegas Convention Center Loop, which opened in April 2021, and it was recently expanded to include five additional stations over the three initial stations and 1.7 miles of tunnel.
The second is the Vegas Loop, which will ultimately consist of 68 miles of tunnel and 104 stations.
The project is already operational, serving eight stations. When the work is completed, the project will be able to transport as many as 90,000 people every hour, which is astonishing. To think you can go from the airport to a strip hotel in under 10 minutes is mind-blowing.
Earlier this year, there were signs that trouble was brewing for Musk and the Boring Company after an exposé was published in ProPublica claiming that there was little oversight being conducted on the project.
The report claimed, “…Boring has skirted building, environmental and labor regulations, according to records obtained by ProPublica and City Cast Las Vegas under public records laws.”
ProPublica continued, “It twice installed tunnels without permits to work on county property. State and local environmental regulators documented it dumping untreated water into storm drains and the sewer system.”
The report further claimed, “And, as local politicians were approving an extension of the system, Boring workers were filing complaints with the state Occupational Safety and Health Administration about ‘ankle-deep’ water in the tunnels, muck spills and severe chemical burns.”
Nevada state regulators have since hit Musk with a cease and desist order, claiming that these repeat violations break a settlement agreement the company reached several years ago when it was allegedly discharging groundwater without a permit.
In all, Boring has been cited for nearly 800 violations. The report explained, “Among the violations cited by state inspectors are starting to dig without approval, releasing untreated water onto city streets, spilling muck from trucks, and failing to hire an independent environmental manager to regularly inspect construction sites. In total, regulators counted 689 missed inspections along with 100 new violations.”
Boring is fighting the allegations, and no fines have to be paid until the dispute is fully litigated, but Boring would have to write a check for nearly $250,000, and Musk should feel lucky that is all it is (he could have been fined about $3 million for the alleged violations).
You can read the full report on ProPublica and decide for yourself whether this is all politically motivated (while Nevada has a Republican governor, the mayor of Las Vegas is a Democrat), or if Musk is guilty of the violations. At a quick glance, I would have to say that Musk should count his blessings and make things right before the situation gets worse and someone is seriously injured, but that’s just me.
