Elon Musk, Wesley Hunt Quietly Pitch Boring Co. for Houston Tunnel Project — ProPublica

The devastating flooding in Houston attributable to Hurricane Harvey in 2017 killed dozens of individuals, inundated tons of of hundreds of properties and left the group determined for an answer.

Since then, native flood specialists have extensively studied the opportunity of a multibillion-dollar tunnel system throughout Harris County, the place Houston is positioned. Research have targeted on the development of pipelines, 30 to 40 toes in diameter, that might ferry large quantities of water out to the Gulf within the occasion of a storm.

Now, after years of analysis and dialogue, Elon Musk needs a bit of the mission.

An investigation by The Texas Newsroom and the Houston Chronicle has discovered that the billionaire, in partnership with Houston-area Rep. Wesley Hunt, has spent months aggressively pushing state and native officers to rent Musk’s Boring Co. to construct two narrower, 12-foot tunnels round one main watershed. That could possibly be a probably cheaper, however, a minimum of one skilled stated, much less efficient answer to the area’s historic flooding woes.

Hunt’s staff has stated the Boring project would cost $760 million and contain the corporate getting 15% of the associated fee up entrance from state and native coffers.

Inside two months of this push, the Harris County Commissioners Court docket unanimously voted to review a pilot program that included a take a look at smaller tunnels, with specs just like what Boring had pitched. The commissioners courtroom, made up of 5 elected members together with a county decide, oversees the county’s finances.

Each Musk and Hunt stand to profit ought to Boring be chosen to construct any a part of the mission. Hunt is reportedly considering a challenge to U.S. Sen. John Cornyn in subsequent 12 months’s Republican Senate main. And touchdown a job like this might even be a big win for Boring, which has not accomplished a significant public mission in Texas and faces criticisms for its ventures elsewhere.

The discussions concerning the Boring pitch have occurred principally out of the general public eye. Hunt mentioned the project in passing at a city corridor in Houston in February. Since then, he has refused to reply the newsrooms’ questions on when Musk bought him on the thought and why he turned its pitchman.

Efforts to achieve Musk and representatives with Boring weren’t returned.

Consultants and a few native officers query whether or not Musk and his firm are the appropriate decide for the job. The Boring Co. has targeted on transportation tunnels, not flood mitigation.

“In case you construct a smaller tunnel, OK, it’ll be cheaper, however it may possibly carry much less water,” stated Larry Dunbar, a veteran water sources engineer who has suggested Houston-area governmental businesses on drainage points. “So what have you ever saved? Have you ever decreased the flooding upstream by an inch? And are you going to spend multimillions of {dollars} to do this? Effectively, perhaps that’s not price it.”

In response to the newsrooms’ questions, state and native officers stated no public cash has been allotted to Boring. County officers added that they haven’t chosen a tunnel contractor and any course of to take action would observe regular procurement guidelines.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, whose staff met with Hunt’s team through the legislative session to debate the proposal, stays open to the thought. As president of the Texas Senate with shut ties to President Donald Trump, he’s a strong ally.

“If Elon Musk and the Boring Firm, or another firm, can construct two large tunnels below the Houston bayous in a number of years to avoid wasting the town from flooding, I’m at all times going to have an interest to pay attention,” Patrick, a Republican, informed the newsrooms. “The reality is, Elon Musk is likely one of the solely individuals on this planet who may accomplish this.”

The Pitch Course of Begins

In 2022, the Harris County Flood Management District launched findings from its yearslong tunnel research, which has thus far value almost $3 million in native and federal funds.

The concept was to construct eight tunnels, totalling round 130 miles in size, in accordance with the report. The tunnels can be large, huge sufficient for a container ship, and buried 40 to 140 toes underground, relying on the situation. Austin and San Antonio have comparable techniques, though on a smaller scale.

The Buffalo Bayou section of the Houston mission — which Boring has proposed to construct — is a centerpiece of the design and would run by the town’s core and a few of its most developed neighborhoods. The county estimated it might value $4.6 billion.

The full value for the system was projected to be $30 billion, funded by a possible mixture of federal, state and native {dollars}, and the timeline was 10 to fifteen years to finish development.

Given the scope and complexity of the mission, the Military Corps of Engineers has been concerned in discussions concerning the tunnels for the reason that starting. The corps additionally has jurisdiction over the 2 federal reservoirs within the space.

Eight years after Harvey, nevertheless, the tunnel mission has not damaged floor.

Hunt has accused the Army Corps of “​​dragging their toes somewhat bit” as a result of its research of the tunnel system has been delayed. In December, Congress ordered the Corps to complete the evaluation. Hunt hailed the choice, however so far the Military Corps has not accomplished the research.

Simply two months later, nevertheless, his staffers and Musk’s staff began procuring Boring’s proposal to politicians throughout the state.

Emails, textual content messages and coverage memos the newsrooms obtained by public data requests present Hunt’s chief of employees, James Kyrkanides, repeatedly tried to acquire public cash on behalf of Boring. The paperwork, which haven’t been launched beforehand to the general public, additionally lay out how Hunt labored to safe Musk entry to lawmakers and different officers forward of the formal bidding course of.

Kyrkanides declined to remark for this story.

In February, Boring pitched its proposal to elected officers in Harris County as an “revolutionary and cost-effective answer.”

“We’re assured in our potential to execute this mission efficiently to convey peace of thoughts to residents of Harris County and the larger Houston space throughout future flood occasions,” Jim Fitzgerald, Boring’s world head of enterprise improvement, wrote in a two-page memo concerning the proposal addressed to Kyrkanides and shared with native officers.

That very same month, Hunt spoke at a city corridor assembly about his involvement.

“I talked to him” — Musk — “about Hurricane Harvey and the way we’d like tunnels,” Hunt stated, in accordance with Community Impact. “He informed me, ‘I can try this at a fraction of the associated fee the Military Corps of Engineers would do it.’”

A couple of days later, the pinnacle of a neighborhood nonprofit wrote to a county commissioner saying she’d heard Hunt and Musk have been procuring the proposal round and that the thought might have been mentioned on board the president’s jet.

“I hear that Congressman Hunt talked to Elon Musk about his boring firm whereas on a visit on Airforce 1,” Colleen Gilbert, government director of the Greens Bayou Coalition, emailed.

It’s unclear if Trump was on board or took half within the discussions. The president’s spokespeople didn’t reply questions concerning the obvious assembly.

In April, Kyrkanides made a detailed pitch in an e mail to Patrick’s employees. He handed alongside Boring’s proposal and prompt that $60 million be put aside within the state finances “that shall be matched with one other $60 million” from the Harris County Flood Management District as a “down cost for the $760 million mission Elon pitched Wesley.”

“I imagine the Lt. Gov. spoke with Elon and the Boring Firm this week,” Kyrkanides emailed in Could, a month earlier than the common legislative session wrapped up. “Wesley additionally spoke with Elon, and every part appears on observe!”

Kyrkanides adopted up as soon as extra mid-month: “Something you want from us?”

Pushing for Smaller Tunnels

As they pushed the thought to state lawmakers, Hunt’s staff repeatedly lobbied Harris County officers, reaching out to a minimum of two commissioners, the county’s legislative liaison and flood management specialists.

Early on, Houston officers had issues about what Boring proposed.

The 2-page letter from Boring stated its tunnels can be “no shallower than 15 toes to 30 toes under floor floor,” whereas the county’s earlier analysis proposed a a lot deeper vary for the Buffalo Bayou section.

An engineering skilled in County Commissioner Tom Ramsey’s workplace warned that Boring’s shallower plan may intervene with bridge foundations, utility traces and current easements.

“It discusses that the tunnel can be a lot shallower then anticipated,” Eric Heppen, Ramsey’s director of engineering, wrote in an e mail to different staffers in his workplace on Feb. 17. “I’d shortly verify if it may be deeper or if that turns into a load problem for the system.”

Boring stated in its pitch that the tunnel depth is “versatile,” however the firm didn’t reply to the newsrooms’ query about whether or not it may possibly construct to the requirements outlined within the county’s research.

Quantity was one other concern. A single 40-foot-wide tunnel can transfer about 12,000 cubic toes of water each second, county research present. Two 12-foot-wide tunnels, laid facet by facet, as Boring proposed, may battle to maintain tempo in a flood emergency, in accordance with Dunbar, the veteran water sources engineer.

“One would wish eleven 12-foot diameter tunnels to offer the identical stream capability as one 40-foot diameter tunnel,” he informed the newsrooms. “Offering solely two 12-foot diameter tunnels doesn’t present the stream capability that Harris County or the Corps of Engineers are searching for.”

The county continued to have interaction with the corporate regardless of these issues.

In March, Scott Elmer, who’s overseen the tunnel research for the previous few years on the county’s flood management district, reached out to Boring executives to arrange a gathering. Within the following weeks, he and different flood management officers met with Boring engineers a minimum of twice to debate the specifics of Boring’s capabilities.

Throughout one of many conferences, flood management officers pressed Boring representatives on whether or not the corporate may construct tunnels which are a minimum of 20 toes huge, in accordance with an agenda shared with attendees by way of e mail.

The corporate was reportedly studying how one can make tunnels as huge as 21 toes a number of years in the past. However it’s unclear if Boring ever developed that functionality or what it informed county officers about its potential to amplify tunnels. On its web site, Boring notes it “maintains the identical tunnel design for all tasks to keep away from ‘reinventing the wheel’ for each tunnel.”

An April 10 commissioners courtroom assembly in Houston was a turning level.

That seems to be the primary time county officers introduced up in public the truth that Hunt had been pitching them on a smaller-scale model of the flood plan they’d studied for years. They referred to this concept as a pilot program that might give attention to just some sections of a bigger, countywide tunnel system.

Ramsey, the panel’s solely Republican, particularly talked about the pilot program tunnels could possibly be narrower in diameter, as small as 12 toes, and shallower — specs that might match the form of tunnel Boring has usually constructed.

Commissioner Lesley Briones, a Democrat, stated a pilot mission might assist kick-start an enormous, costly mission that the county has struggled to get off the bottom.

Nobody talked about Boring or Musk explicitly till Commissioner Rodney Ellis, a Democrat, stated he’d gotten wind that the tech billionaire is likely to be concerned.

“I’ve heard the entire tales about Elon Musk having a tunneling firm,” Ellis stated. “I’ve received fairly good ears. I’ve received good Republican buddies, too, now.”

He questioned the pitch, saying he was apprehensive it might take the county off observe.

Nevertheless, Ellis and the entire commissioners unanimously voted to provide a white paper learning the thought of a scaled-down pilot mission. Additionally they voted to ask the state for flood mitigation funds. The vote didn’t require the county to decide to a particular mission.

Later that month, records show the county’s legislative liaison reached out to employees for state Sen. Joan Huffman, a Houston Republican who chairs the Senate Committee on Finance, to point the county’s assist for a $60 million budget rider for “underground flood threat discount techniques in Harris County.”

A two-page memo explaining the pilot project included with the request didn’t point out Musk or Boring and nonetheless referenced the bigger 30- to 40-foot tunnels.

What’s in It for Musk’s Allies

Hunt has been a number one voice on the necessity for flood mitigation throughout his brief time in Congress.

Final 12 months, he partnered with Democratic U.S. Rep. Lizzie Fletcher to order the Military Corps of Engineers to maneuver ahead with the underground tunnel research. The trouble was applauded as a bipartisan victory.

However Fletcher, a Democrat, stated she was not concerned in Hunt’s work with Musk on the Boring proposal and has “not heard from anybody advocating for it.” She stated she’s labored with Military Corps of Engineers and native communities “on a clear, knowledgeable, community-driven effort to deal with water conveyance and flood management in our area.”

A West Level graduate and former Military captain, Hunt has formed a political model that appeals to each GOP insiders and MAGA-leaning voters. He was an everyday at Trump marketing campaign occasions in and outdoors Texas and secured a prime-time talking slot on the 2024 Republican National Convention. He’s the one Black Republican within the Texas congressional delegation.

But when Hunt enters the U.S. Senate race in opposition to Cornyn, he’ll possible want a high-profile political win to face out, in accordance with Brandon Rottinghaus, a political science professor on the College of Houston, as incumbent senators in Texas have received almost each main over the previous few a long time.

Texas Legal professional Basic Ken Paxton can also be difficult Cornyn within the main.

Given the unstable dynamic between Trump and Musk, aligning with the latter carries political threat but additionally the potential for main reward, Rottinghaus stated.

“Hunt actually is well-known sufficient as a member in his district, however the issue is that if you’re in Congress operating for a statewide workplace, your base assist can typically be very provincial,” Rottinghaus stated. “To accomplice with Musk would supply for a form of nationwide profile that Hunt would must be profitable.”

Musk has tapped native politicians when pursuing comparable large tasks elsewhere.

In Tennessee, Republican leaders not too long ago introduced that Boring would build a transit tunnel for automobiles from downtown Nashville to the close by airport. The town’s mayor and different Democratic leaders have raised questions on a scarcity of transparency, aggressive bidding and environmental planning. At a public assembly in early August, a Boring official stated the corporate would search public enter for the mission however didn’t reply reporters’ questions on why they’d not but carried out so, in accordance with the Nashville Banner.

In Las Vegas, the place Boring constructed a transit tunnel system, the corporate was in a position to avoid many of the lengthy governmental reviews typical of those sorts of tasks as a result of it’s privately operated and receives no federal funding, ProPublica beforehand reported.

In 2022, Bloomberg reported the corporate had pitched eight projects to Texas officers. Two have been water drainage tasks in Austin and Houston. Neither seems to have been constructed.

If Boring secures a part of the Houston job, it might look like the corporate’s first public flood management mission. The corporate lists only transportation-related projects on its web site.

Texas legislation requires county governments to open giant public tasks to aggressive bidding and provides all potential contractors an equal shot below the identical circumstances.

Whereas the legislation doesn’t explicitly bar native officers from discussing tasks with particular person firms forward of time, that form of early outreach — although frequent in some locations — hasn’t been expressly licensed by state courts or the lawyer basic, in accordance with legal guidance from the Texas Municipal League, which offers authorized steerage to native authorities officers.

Emily Woodell, the spokesperson for the Harris County Flood Management District, stated the company has not shared any delicate data with Boring concerning the Houston mission and solely met with the corporate to grasp its capabilities.

Ramsey, the county commissioner, informed the newsrooms he believes there’s nothing improper with officers entertaining personal pitches earlier than the formal bidding course of begins.

“All firms that may have an curiosity in it, that may perceive and supply us data, actually we’d be open to listening,” Ramsey stated.

What’s Subsequent

The way forward for the mission, and Musk’s involvement, are nonetheless up within the air.

The state by no means granted Boring the $60 million it needed for the mission. Huffman, the senator overseeing the finance committee, confirmed the rider was by no means positioned within the state finances and informed the newsrooms she had nothing to do with the proposal.

“The one involvement my workplace had with this proposal was when Rep. Hunt’s chief of employees reached out to my scheduler to rearrange a gathering between Rep. Hunt and me, however it by no means occurred,” she stated in an announcement.

County officers additionally informed the newsrooms that they haven’t offered any public cash to Musk.

Nevertheless, in June, the Harris County Flood Management District produced the pilot project report that commissioners voted for within the spring, a scaled-back model of the unique tunnel design. This white paper proposed specializing in just a few segments of the countywide tunnel system and regarded tunnels as small as 10 toes in diameter as an actual possibility — properly inside Boring’s potential to assemble.

The white paper additionally floated the thought of a public-private partnership permitting a personal agency to design, construct and even run the system afterward, simply as Boring has carried out elsewhere.

It doesn’t seem that this report has been launched to the general public. The flood management district offered it to the newsrooms upon request.

Carlos Gomez, performing public affairs chief for the Military Corps of Engineers’ Galveston District, informed the newsrooms he had not heard concerning the pilot mission probably involving The Boring Co. and couldn’t say if his company would have an interest.

After the newsrooms introduced them with the findings of this investigation, Briones and Ramsey emphasised they aren’t dedicated to at least one specific firm and that every one options can be topic to due diligence. Ellis informed the newsrooms that Musk shouldn’t be concerned, calling him “somebody who has proven blatant disregard for democratic establishments and environmental protections.”

Harris County Choose Lina Hidalgo and Commissioner Adrian Garcia, each Democrats, declined to remark.

Woodell, with the flood management district, stated there have been no additional discussions with Boring in months. She stated the county has checked out smaller tunnels earlier than however acknowledged that engineering analyses discovered large-diameter tunnels can be the simplest possibility for a countywide system. Woodell added the county may nonetheless contemplate smaller tunnels in “particular places.”

“There’ll by no means be a single answer to flooding in Harris County,” she stated.

If Harris County strikes ahead with a smaller-scale mission just like the one Hunt needs, which doesn’t depend on federal funding, the method to design and construct it may nonetheless take as much as a decade.

Jim Blackburn, co-director of Rice College’s Extreme Storm Prediction, Schooling and Evacuation from Disasters Middle, stated Musk’s slimmer tunnels may nonetheless show helpful. However he warned in opposition to handing a mission of this magnitude to a personal firm with out correct vetting.

“The dimensions of the issue we have now actually calls for, I feel, all of us to be open-minded about concepts,” Blackburn informed the newsrooms. “Invite them in. Simply don’t give them the contract tomorrow.”