Residents of Bastrop, Texas expressed their opposition against the permit that will allow Elon Musk's Boring Company to dump up to 142,000 liters of wastewater into the Colorado River per day, an action that could potentially affect public health and the everyday life of the neighborhood close to the river.
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The Boring Company is Musk's infrastructure construction company that will spearhead the controversial billionaire's vision of building an entire town for Boring and SpaceX employees. The chosen site for the company town of Musk is in Bastrop, and based on the current plans of the company, Boring is planning to construct a wastewater treatment plant that will serve the town.
With this, Boring has requested a permit to dump treated wastewater into the Colorado River and an on-site spray field. To know more about the company's plans to maintain the wastewater treatment facility, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) called for a public comment hearing. As expected from the residents who are likely to be affected by the wastewater disposal, they showed up in the meeting to resist the granting of the permit.
As reported by Gizmodo, Bastrop residents and officials opposed the plan to dump wastewater into the river. Instead, Boring should use the existing wastewater system of the town. One of the residents of Bastrop County, Amy Weir, argued that the $25,000 per day penalty by TCEQ is not enough to ask for accountability from Musk's company. Weird also noted that "Musk is so wealthy that a few thousand dollars a day wouldn't be much of a punishment."
"There is no way for the state to enforce its laws or protect the people and businesses downstream, should there be an issue with discharge from this facility," Weir added.
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Another resident expressed his concerns that Bastrop might have the same fate as Austin with a highly toxic river that one couldn't risk throwing a ball into the river for the dog to fetch "without fear of fatally poisoning it." Others also pointed out that dumping wastewater into the Colorado River would not only affect the river itself but also the town's groundwater, hence contaminating the resident's main source of potable drinking water, as per Huff Post.
Some residents are also concerned about the possible contamination of vegetable farms and rice fields near the Colorado River. According to them, Musk, who claims to be an environmental advocate, should know better how to properly handle wastewater. To note, the Boring Company plans to construct zero-emission tunnels for electric cars that should be beneficial to the environment.
Prior to the issue with wastewater disposal, Boring already received complaints from locals due to their ongoing construction projects. Last year, the company failed to request for air permits to install soil silos and tunnel grout, according to the Wall Street Journal. Boring has yet to release a statement regarding the matter.
