Musk’s Boring Co. violated environmental regulations nearly 800 times, Nevada alleges

Elon Musk’s Boring Co., the tunneling and infrastructure firm, repeatedly violated state environmental regulations, even after the company agreed not to, Nevada regulators say.

The Boring Co, which is in the process of expanding a tunnel network under Las Vegas, is accused of nearly 800 violations, according to a report from ProPublica. Nearly 100 of the violations occurred after the company signed an agreement with state regulators in 2022, which sought to force the company to comply with state laws.

The alleged violations include digging without approval, dumping untreated water onto city streets, failing to install silt fences, and tracking dirt from construction sites onto nearby roadways.

The Boring Co. could have been fined more than $3 million, but regulators decided to group some violations together, bringing the fine down to $242,800.

The Nevada Division of Environmental Protection said that reducing the total “offers a reasonable penalty that will still serve to deter future non-compliance conduct.”

The Las Vegas tunnel system is planned to grow from a few miles today to 68 miles connecting 104 stations. 

But that expansion hasn’t been without other problems. Operations on a tunnel that Boring Co. is building to the Las Vegas airport had to be suspended in September because a worker sustained a “crushing injury” when they became pinned between two 4,000-foot pipes.