This story was originally published byProPublica.
It twice installed tunnels without permits to work on county property.
State and local environmental regulators documented it dumping untreated water into storm drains and the sewer system.
© Associated Press
After an investigation,Nevada OSHA in 2023 fined the companymore than $112,000.
Boringdisputed the regulators allegationsand contested the violations.
The complaints have continued.
In August, a Las Vegas Valley Water District staffer documented a similar issue.
On both occasions, the county issued cease-and-desist letters but did not fine Boring.
Solvie and Cederburg declined to comment.
Boring did not respond to repeated requests to comment for this story.
The result is that key questions about the operation and maintenance of an unproven transportation system are unanswered.
The county declined to respond to detailed questions about its oversight role since the special permit ended.
The county can review those audits and inspect the system as deemed appropriate.
She had questioned whether the tunnel project was the best transportation option for the city.
I have been totally opposed to it from the beginning and still remain so, she said.
Other elected and appointed officials have offered nearly unanimous support.
And Boring Company CEO Steve Davis is helpingrecruit staff for the initiative.
They were celebrating a deal to build a Tesla Gigafactory outside Reno.
Musk would later praise Nevada as a real get-it-done state.
Leaders at the city of Los Angeles were interested.
Residents, however, werent as eager to turn Boring loose.
But we do not need to go through a three- or four-year environmental approval process.
Everywhere Boring tried, it struggled to start digging.
That was, until it got to Las Vegas.
(Hill said Musk himself had previously pitched Hill on a Boring Company project in Northern Nevada.)
Hill, now a leader at the convention authority in Las Vegas, was in a position to help.
Hill said he already had a sense that the Boring Companys concept would work pretty well here.
Nine companies submitted bids, and two were finalists.
Borings bid was about a third of the cost of the other credible proposals, Hill said.
But because Borings project started so small and didnt use federal funding, the commission wouldnt have a say.
Nearly half of the authoritys 14-member board represents private interests, primarily the gaming industry.
Goodman and two others voted against the partnership.
Its not really a debate.
Hill acknowledged to ProPublica and City Cast, however, thats a prediction.
Thats not a mandate.
I dont have the standing to make that decision.
I think people listen to what I have to say periodically.
The 2021 vote was unanimous.
In Las Vegas, Boring had achieved what it could not in Maryland, Chicago or LA.
We can do that here.
An Expanding System
The Boring Company has completed more than 5 miles of the 68-mile system.
Despite the proposals massive scale, it has been approved with little public input.
It is required to obtain permits to ensure the waste does not contaminate the environment or local water sources.
A truck route that the company had reported to the county must have been totally false, Mosher concluded.
The driver was fined $75 for an unsafe or unsecured load, according to court records.
The county fined the contractor $1,549.
Boring is required to filter the water before discharging it into storm drains, which flow to Lake Mead.
The following year, local officials cited Boring for illegally connecting to a sewer without approval, records show.
The county approved them retroactively, tacking on a $900 fee for each permit.
(Trips within the convention center are free.)
The lack of alternatives has made Boring an easy sell to politicians, Spotleson said.
They understand that we need transit solutions.
Theyre being presented with a free option that is also carbon free.
That is as simple as it gets.
Hill acknowledged skepticism of the companys claim that the Loop will transport up to 90,000 people an hour.
I am completely willing to take that bet.
Lets just wait and see.
I cant speak to the numbers that Steve Hill or his team have posted or talked about.
Why would we give something away if we didnt know it was going to work?
The company outlined an alternative oversight planin a letterobtained by ProPublica and City Cast Las Vegas.
A Clark County spokesperson did not answer questions about potential gaps in accountability created by removal of the permit.
Whats the traffic control system going to be like down in those tunnels?
said the expert, who requested anonymity because of concerns about professional repercussions.
All their answers are completely evasive.
So there are significant operational concerns.
The reasons are obvious.
More than 50 million people landed at Harry Reid International Airport in 2023.
But tunneling there requires compliance with Federal Aviation Administration regulations and federal environmental reviews.
An airport spokesperson later clarified that no plans have been confirmed.
Using surface streets for its airport connection at least initially wont alleviate gridlock like mass transit could.
Vassiliadis acknowledged it wont give us any [traffic] relief.
For some, the airport factored into the decision.
She said she had asked the casinos and hotels if they wanted to connect to the Vegas Loop.
With Goodmans vote, the council approved the extension unanimously.
Michael Squires and Anjeanette Damon contributed reporting.
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