AUSTIN, Texas — New filings show Elon Musk’s tunneling company has requested to dump more than 140,000 gallons of treated wastewater per day into the Colorado River near its property in Bastrop.
Gapped Bass LLC, a company affiliated with top executives at The Boring Company, is asking the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) for a permit to discharge a daily average flow of up to 142,5000 gallons per day.
The Boring Company has recently expanded in Central Texas along with Musk’s other business ventures. The company is reportedly building a 220,000-square-foot warehouse close to the Tesla headquarters in Austin – the company’s second property in the region after its site in Bastrop County. That facility is expected to be on Fallwell Lane, also near the Colorado River.
Gapped Bass and The Boring Company share an address as well as top employees. Gapped Bass has reportedly been buying dozens of acres of property within Bastrop County, signaling more expansion for Musk’s companies in the region.
KVUE’s partners at the Austin American-Statesman found that, in June, the company filed a proposal for a tunnel near the Tesla site, dubbed the "Colorado River Connector Tunnel." This tunnel would have a 2-mile, private access tunnel between the two headquarters.
Many industrial companies regularly dump treated wastewater into local waterways, a move that must first be authorized by TCEQ, the state’s environmental agency.
The Gapped Bass filing shows the company has also requested to discharge the treated wastewater using irrigation on land.
According to a report from The Dallas Morning News, TCEQ is conducting a technical review of the request to make sure the discharge would not impact surface and groundwater.
In May, the Austin Business Journal reported TCEQ was investigating The Boring Company over three complaints related to wastewater.
Public comments on the request are now open.
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