By Lynda Myer
On 20 March 2022, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) presented the Boring Company (TBC) with two moderate and one minor violation notice.
Currently, Elon Musk’s tunneling company has resolved the environmental violations that relate to activities at its site in Bastrop, Texas.
One of the moderate violations received was for its failure to design, install and maintain effective erosion controls and sediment controls to minimize the discharge of pollutants (sediment).
According to TCEQ: “Specifically, erosion logs were not properly maintained. Additionally, erosion and sediment controls listed in the SWP3 (Stormwater pollution prevention plan) were not implemented.”
Due to its application to dispose of 537m3 of daily wastewater into the Colorado River, TBC has recently come under fire from Bastrop residents.
At a recent TCEQ public hearing meeting to discuss the permit, people living near the tunneling company’s site expressed concerns that TBC’s wastewater will pollute the river.
In order to easing Bastrop community’s worries, TBC explained how it handles wastewater to them at the public hearing. However, some TBC neighbors fear that the company will not adhere to TCEQ rules.
The Boring Company’s wastewater application is still pending, according to TCEQ records.
Additionally, while the Boring Company received a moderate violation notice for failing to post a large TCEQ construction site notice in an area where the general public and authorities could properly see it, it faced a minor violation notice for failing to provide knowledgeable personnel to conduct site inspections.
Considering the recent aerial footage of TBC’s Bastrop site, the start-up appears to be constructing a new test tunnel.
Based on a video it seems that Prufrock, TBC’s all-electric tunnel boring machine (TBM), is building a second test tunnel after footage of the TBM proposing from the ground to build the first test tunnel was posted in October 2022.
