BASTROP, Texas – Farmer Steve Hipe is concerned about what will happen to his landscape tree nursery if Elon Musk’s infrastructure company gets his way.
Musk’s Boring Company plans to dump up to 142,000 gallons of wastewater into the Colorado River and through an on-site spray field every day, and dozens of the controversial billionaire’s new neighbors voiced their concerns at a public comment hearing Tuesday night.
“Can I use pond water and not kill my trees?” Hipe asked Boring Company’s environmental consultant. “We are not a big company like you. We are a family farm.”
Other residents fear Bastrop will go the way of Austin, where you are can’t throw a ball into the river for your dog without fear of fatal poisoning. Others worry that groundwater contamination from the new site will threaten drinking water, or that disposal will expose vegetable gardens or riverside fields to new contaminants.
Many wondered why a company owned by a self-styled environmental champion wouldn’t find a way to recycle the wastewater, instead of dumping it into Colorado.
Many, including Bastrop Mayor Connie Schroeder, want Musk’s company to pipe its wastewater into the public system, instead of disposing of it itself.
Some people at the hearing, however, felt like letting the Boring Company control the wastewater was a reasonable price for the city to host an A-list company. The Boring Company aims to build a zero-emission tunnel for electric vehicles to reduce pressure on the city’s transport system, although it has only just been completed. one effort until now.
“Where there are people, there will be wastewater,” said Ron Whipple, treasurer for the Bastrop County Water Control and Improvement District. “We cannot stop progress.”
Most large companies or housing developments produce wastewater, treat it, and then discharge it into local rivers and streams.
The Boring Company’s permit application, first filed by Gapped Bass LLC on its behalf in July 2022, would authorize the company to build its own wastewater treatment facility for bathrooms, rest rooms and a bistro on the site. Musk’s company town is built in Bastrop. The permit allows Boring to spray wastewater onto fields and also discharge it into rivers.
The discharge rate of 142,000 gallons per day is not very high by local standards. The city itself dumps about 5 million gallons a day into the river, state environmental officials told the crowd at Tuesday’s hearing. A wastewater treatment facility in Austin, 30 miles upstream from Bastrop, is allowed to discharge about 75 million gallons a day.
However, many view Musk’s Boring Company with suspicion, given its record of brazen moves and apparent disinterest in complying with local regulations.
It’s an awkward position for many in the laid-back central Texas city, which has a distinctly libertarian style that seems to fit Musk’s eco-capitalist mindset. SpaceX’s Starlink program, which connects rural areas to broadband internet service using low-orbit satellites, serves hundreds of households in the region. Many of the magnate’s new critics were independent fans before he set up shop in his city.
“I like Elon Musk,” resident Sean Hensley told HuffPost — before asking state environmental officials to deny the Boring Company a wastewater permit “unless Elon Musk and his kids swim in the Colorado River every day.”
Since establishing itself in Bastrop two years ago, the Boring Company has run afoul of permit requirements for septic systems and storm water drains, according to Bloomberg News. He built the road next to the highway after the state Department of Transportation denied his request, then asked for permission to keep the road.
Thanks to a string of violations and an apparent disregard for the law, many now wonder if a small town like Bastrop has the power to ensure that a multibillion-dollar company like the Boring Company will play by the rules.
Chap Ambrose, a Bastrop resident who lives across the street from the Boring Company’s main construction site, said he plans to challenge the permit with state environmental authorities.
“This wastewater permit is a big deal,” Ambrose said. “I just don’t trust this company to build public infrastructure based on what I’ve seen.”
The Boring Company did not send a leading official to the meeting to speak on its behalf. Instead, the crowd heard from Rajiv Patel, an environmental consultant who filed for the permit on behalf of Gapped Bass, one of the limited liability companies Musk’s company used to buy land in the area.
Patel tried to calm the neighbors’ concerns, saying that 97% of the waste water will come from home use, although the Boring Company applied for a hybrid permit that includes industrial discharge. He said that the industrial wastewater that will be carried out on the site will not come from the tunnel, as many residents suspected, but will use a jet stream to cut the metal.
The company only wants the permit because there is no infrastructure to deal with wastewater at the Boring Company’s rural site, Patel said. Ultimately, he said, the Boring Company plans to pipe the sewage into the public system and turn the treatment plant over to local authorities.
“The plan we’re going to discuss today is a step on the road map,” Patel said, noting that the company plans to hire several hundred engineers. “Hopefully this permit will allow us to start hiring in the future.”
But Patel surprised the crowd when he revealed that the proposed plant would also treat wastewater produced by the SpaceX facility miles away in Austin, a detail that was not previously known.
And at times, Patel’s constant optimism seems to have struck a chord with the audience. When one resident asked if the wastewater would affect aquatic wildlife or harm river fish, Patel said more wastewater would improve the local ecosystem.
“From our point of view, treated water going into the river will add water,” Patel said, with a laugh. “It will add water to help wildlife.”
Many residents are skeptical of Texas regulatory authorities. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality just set up the meeting after state Sen. Sarah Ekhardt (D-Austin) requestedaccording to The Wall Street Journal.
Although The Boring Company and SpaceX are expected to produce wastewater for the proposed plant, the state will not review the companies’ compliance history, TCEQ official Sarah Johnson told the crowd. The agency only checks the applicant’s history, he said – in this case it’s Gapped Bass, a two-year company was created to buy land for Boring.
TCEQ officials have repeatedly declined to specify what penalties Musk’s company could face if it discharges excessive pollutants or exceeds permit limits. The maximum administrative penalty for water violations is now regulated by law at $25,000 per day.
Whipple, treasurer of the Bastrop County Water Control and Improvement District, is confident that state regulators will keep the river safe, saying: “Elon Musk is not known for poor work.”
“There was a lot of fear,” Whipple said. “But the water is treated. People leave the ‘cared for’ section.