Elon Musk company wants to dump millions of gallons of treated wastewater in Texas
Elon #Elon
A company with ties to Elon Musk has filed for permission to dump millions of gallons of treated wastewater on its property in Bastrop, Texas, according to a Monday report filed by The Dallas Morning News’ Sarah Bahari.
Bahari reports that Gapped Bass LLC, an affiliate of Elon Musk’s tunneling and infrastructure outfit, The Boring Company, has filed paperwork with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality seeking permission to discard up to 142,500 gallons of treated wastewater per day on its land near the Colorado River.
The application comes more than a year after Gapped Bass’ purchase of 73 acres of land in Bastrop County. The Boring Company affiliate does not specifically name the Musk-owned tunneling concern in its paperwork, Bahari notes, but listings for the limited liability company show it is managed by Boring Company President Steve Davis and features Boring Company Corporate Controller Adam Pashaian as a registered agent.
Gapped Bass’ application follows The Boring Company’s quiet relocation to Texas, which began earlier this year when the company changed its official address on LinkedIn to Pflugerville, Texas. The move mirrors Musk’s relocation of Tesla’s headquarters to Austin in 2021.
As for the application, the dumping of treated wastewater is not a rare phenomenon for entities like The Boring Company. The U.S. Geological Survey defines wastewater as “used water” that includes substances such as human waste, food scraps, oils, soaps and chemicals. The process of treating this water involves removing “as much as the suspended solids as possible before remaining water, called effluent, is discharged back to the environment.” There are two forms of wastewater treatment: “primary treatment,” which removes about 60 percent of suspended solids from wastewater, and “secondary treatment,” which removes 90 percent of solid elements.
While the release of treated wastewater back into the environment is common, papers published by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have raised concerns regarding potentially harmful chemical elements still present in treated wastewater. These elements can include lead and cadmium, which have the potential to affect downstream human and animal consumers as well as agricultural sectors and river fauna. The Colorado River, which runs through Bastrop in the proximity of land owned by Gapped Bass LLC, serves as an important source of water for cities like Austin.
As for The Boring Company, Musk’s infrastructure and mining concern applied in June to construct a tunnel on Tesla’s Austin Gigafactory property. Little is known about the specifics of the project, other than it is tentatively called the “Colorado River Connector Tunnel” and is categorized as a “private access tunnel.”
A request for comment from The Boring Company was not immediately answered Monday afternoon.