Texas Is 'Wild West' for Developers Like Musk's Boring Company: Resident
Texas' is a "Wild West" for developers like Elon Musk's Boring Company, a farmer told The WaPo.
The Boring Company and SpaceX both have built sites in Bastrop, a rural area near Austin.
They're facing criticism over their plans to dump treated wastewater in the Colorado River.
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A farmer who lives near Elon Musk's Texas campus around 30 miles east of Austin says that the boom in development in the area means it's like "the Wild West."
Harold "Skip" Connett, an organic farmer in Bastrop, a rural area, told The Washington Post that industrial developments in the area were increasing truck traffic and pollution.
"Between Elon Musk coming in here and all the sand and gravel mines ... suddenly this bucolic, pastoral prime farmland is now more than a thousand acres of an industrial site," Connett told the outlet. "There's no zoning, there are no rules. It's the Wild West."
A Bastrop County commissioner told The Post that the growth in development was "more than this county was ready to handle," but that it was allowed under the state's property rights.
"This is Texas," the commissioner said. "If you own the property and you stay within the state laws, you can pretty much do what you want."
The Boring Company, Musk's construction company — which builds tunnels under cities to help alleviate traffic congestion — began work on its Bastrop facility in 2021. SpaceX, his aerospace company, has started building a site there, too. The Boring Company has filed plans to build 110 homes nearby and Musk reportedly hopes to build his own town for staff called Snailbrook, too.
The Boring Company is facing criticism from local residents over its plans to treat its own wastewater and then dump it in the Colorado River. It applied for a permit last year to discharge 142,500 gallons in the river per day.
Rajiv Patel, an environmental consultant who represented Musk's companies at a public meeting on the issue last week, said that it was a short-term solution, "and ultimately we hope to not even utilize the full capacity of what's being authorized."
The Boring Company and SpaceX do plan to eventually get a line to the municipal wastewater system, but it would take around two years to build the connection, he said, per The Wall Street Journal.
Patel said that the wastewater would come from restrooms, break rooms, a bistro, residences already on the property, and water jet cutters linked to both Boring Company and SpaceX facilities, per The Journal.
An aerial view of the Snailbrook community under construction on March 13, 2023 in Bastrop County, Texas. Brandon Bell/Getty Images
Connett said at the public meeting, per The Journal, that developments such as the Boring and SpaceX properties had transformed a "beautiful agritourism recreational center into an industrial site. And it was never meant to be that."
Officials from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality said at the public meeting that their analysis showed the proposed discharge plan would have minimal impact, per The Journal.
At the public meeting, however, some local residents did show support for the boost to Bastrop's economy that Musk's investments would bring.
"I love Elon, and we need more industry here," a local real-estate agent told The Post. "I just don't want him to dump his poop in the river."
Source: Business Insider
