Elon Musk’s Boring Company came under criticism during a more than three-hour Nevada legislative hearing Tuesday on the Elon Musk-owned tunneling company’s safety and environmental record as it digs an underground transportation system beneath Las Vegas.
State lawmakers on the Nevada Interim Standing Committee on Growth and Infrastructure listed a long list of violations Boring has accumulated since 2019, including chemical burns; Digging too close Las Vegas Monorail;hundreds environmental violations; waste water dumping Access to county manholes; and accidents and incidents that occur during construction. They are also asking state regulators whether their oversight of Boring is adequate and asking how the Legislature can help them better regulate the company in the future.
Some of the safety issues discussed at the hearing included two firefighters burned by chemicals A giant concrete dumpster during a training exercise collapsed in front of the Las Vegas Convention Center, and Supervision issues Revealed to the public for the first time in story wealth.
“I’m concerned that breaking the law and breaking the rules has essentially become a cost of doing business for companies in Musk’s orbit,” committee Chairman Howard Watts, a Democrat, said as he convened the meeting. Watts noted that since 2019, the Boring Company has been cracking down on every violation against the company.
The committee had time on the agenda for a Boring Company representative to testify and answer questions, but representatives from the startup did not attend the hearing. Posted out of boredom Notice told the committee on Sunday night that it would be “unable to attend” and provided a seven-page response to a request for information sent by the committee in advance. The response described the startup’s safety team, recommended materials released by Nevada OSHA to the committee, and shared “highlights” of its system’s safety.
The company’s absence drew harsh criticism from two Democratic members of the committee, who called the company a “known bad actor” and a “repeated violator.”
“I’m extremely disappointed that a $7 billion company with a government affairs and lobbying team couldn’t take the time today for us to ask these questions to ensure our communities are protected from an environmental disaster,” said Democratic state Sen. Rochelle Nguyen. “We don’t want to wait until the chemical burns are severe or the water in our communities is poisoned. We want to make sure we do what we can do now.”
Chairman Watts said the Boring Company’s written response “told almost nothing about the information we asked them to provide.”
Although The Boring Company was not present at the hearing, representatives from the Nevada Department of Industrial Relations, Department of Commerce and Industry, and the Nevada Department of Environmental Protection (NDEP) also testified. The agencies responded to detailed questions about inspections and enforcement efforts against the Boring Company over the past few years and defended their regulatory approach. Nevada’s safety regulator acknowledged that the agency did not follow best practices when inspecting firefighter burn injuries and said it has implemented new policies and procedures.
“This is a very unique project,” said NDEP Administrator Jennifer Carr. Advertisement
Office of the Governor, which wealth report The Boring Company was ensnared when it was summoned after a firefighter was injured in a tunnel, reject Send a representative to the hearing by letter.
Committee members said they want to provide the public with information about recent high-profile incidents and ensure state agencies can adequately regulate the Boring Company to prevent future violations.
“The hearings I saw today were not just about innovation and regulation, but about whether our enforcement and accountability review systems are working as intended and whether those systems are strong enough to protect workers, first responders and the public in high-stakes situations like this one,” said Senator Nguyen. “We don’t want to wait until there are chemical burns or water poisoning in our communities. We want to make sure we do what we can do now,” she added.