Elon Musk’s Feedback on Houston Flood Tunnels Are Deceptive, Consultants Say

Billionaire Elon Musk is taking difficulty with a recent investigation by the Houston Chronicle and The Texas Newsroom that raised questions on a flood tunnel challenge he’s pitching to handle Houston’s continual flooding woes. However specialists mentioned his response, which he didn’t clarify to the newsrooms, isn’t supported by information or knowledge.

Final month, the newsrooms reported that Musk’s tunneling firm, The Boring Co., has been lobbying elected officers for months to permit it to construct tunnels underneath Houston for flood mitigation. Boring has proposed digging two 12-foot-wide tunnels beneath Buffalo Bayou — the primary waterway operating via central Houston — to hold stormwater out of neighborhoods and towards the Gulf of Mexico throughout main storms. Consultants say, nevertheless, that bigger tunnels, nearer to 30 to 40 toes in diameter, might carry way more water and be simpler.

Musk and representatives with Boring didn’t reply to interview requests or reply questions the newsrooms despatched upfront of final month’s story about whether or not Boring’s smaller tunnels would be capable of deal with the size of floodwater Houston is more likely to encounter sooner or later.

As an alternative, Musk waited till hours after the story printed to submit a response on X, the social media firm he’s owned since 2022.

“Boring Firm tunnels will work and price <10% of alternate options,” his Aug. 28 submit learn. “If extra move is required, further tunnels may be constructed and moreover they are often route water from many elements of the town, not only one.”

The submit was written in response to a submit on X from U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt, a Houston Republican who helped organize personal conferences with authorities officers in Harris County and throughout the state to promote them on Boring’s flood tunnel plan. Hunt additionally didn’t reply to questions from the newsrooms forward of publication of the unique story, however he weighed in on X after the story was printed.

“A lifelong Houstonian and Texas Congressman spoke to the neatest man on planet earth about fixing a generational flooding difficulty in our metropolis that nobody else will repair,” Hunt wrote.

Musk’s submit provided no knowledge or engineering rationalization to again up his assertions. So the newsrooms examined his statements, evaluating them in opposition to flood research, and interviewed engineering specialists, a few of whom identified key technical and logistical challenges with the Boring plan.

One in all Musk’s claims is probably going false, and the others will not be but potential to confirm with certainty, in line with the newsrooms’ examination.

Once more, when the newsrooms pressed Musk and Boring representatives to elucidate the tech billionaire’s claims, they didn’t reply. Nor did Hunt.

Would Boring’s tunnels price lower than 10% of alternate options?

Musk’s proposal carries a cheaper price tag than the estimated price of the bigger system the flood management district has spent years and hundreds of thousands of {dollars} finding out. However that’s partly as a result of the 2 are strikingly totally different proposals.

Hunt’s staff has mentioned Boring’s Buffalo Bayou challenge would price $760 million, in line with inside communications obtained by the newsrooms via public information requests.

The county’s flood management district, alternatively, proposed in 2022 tunnels of 30 to 40 toes in diameter for that section of the system at a worth of about $4.6 billion.

For the reason that challenge continues to be within the analysis section, the county numbers are preliminary. However based mostly on the figures obtainable, Boring’s proposal would price nearer to one-sixth of the county’s estimate — not lower than 10%, as Musk’s submit urged. So Musk appears to be exaggerating how less expensive his system can be.

Flood management specialists additionally maintained that the decreased worth is considerably proportional to the decreased capability of Boring’s narrower tunnels. Two 12-foot tunnels would supply lower than one-fifth of the quantity {that a} single 40-foot tunnel provides.

Which means they’d divert much less water from weak areas than one giant tunnel.

Jim Blackburn, a Houston environmental lawyer and flood coverage professional, mentioned whereas Musk’s firm deserves a good listening to, cheaper doesn’t robotically imply higher.

“If it’s a smaller tunnel, then I’d count on it to price much less,” Blackburn mentioned. “You’ve bought to have a look at how a lot flood mitigation you get for the {dollars} you spend.”

Emily Woodell, a spokesperson for the Harris County Flood Management District, mentioned the company wants extra info earlier than it may well weigh in on any of Musk’s claims.

“We’d must do numerous research earlier than something might even probably transfer ahead, so I wouldn’t wish to speculate,” she mentioned. “Till we’ve a challenge or one other research, we’d level individuals to our web site for the reviews and knowledge we’ve compiled up to now.”

Can further tunnels be constructed for extra water move?

Musk’s submit mentioned if extra floodwater must be moved, extra tunnels may be added. Engineers mentioned it isn’t that straightforward.

Larry Dunbar, a veteran water assets engineer who has suggested Houston-area governmental businesses on drainage points, mentioned based mostly on measurement alone, it will take about 11 of Boring’s tunnels to hold the identical quantity of water as one giant tunnel. Lined up facet by facet, with sufficient room between them to maintain the bottom secure, the total system might span tons of of toes. That will require securing rights to extra land and constructing extra entry factors for upkeep, he mentioned.

And every new section of building may deliver one other spherical of opinions and mobilization prices, Dunbar mentioned, undercutting the pace and affordability that Boring has touted as key benefits of its proposal.

“The problems begin to simply get increasingly difficult,” Dunbar mentioned. “Not that it may well’t be completed, however simply to sort of throw on the market — ‘Oh, if we’d like extra, we’ll simply do extra’ — properly, there’s much more to it than that.”

Harris County Commissioner Tom Ramsey, who has an engineering background, agreed. Extra tunnels would additionally imply extra tools to take care of, which might drive up long-term prices, Ramsey mentioned.

He added that the county would wish to determine on the total plan on the outset so all system components like pumps, drains and outfalls may be designed correctly.

“It could not be easy to only add further tunnels later,” Ramsey mentioned.

John Blount, a former Harris County engineer who retired after greater than three many years with the county, equally dismissed Musk’s suggestion that Boring might simply construct extra tunnels if the preliminary plan falls brief.

Whereas engaged on different infrastructure tasks, Blount mentioned, he has come throughout a variety of contractors able to constructing tunnels giant sufficient to deal with the job correctly the primary time.

“You don’t begin small and determine it out later,” he mentioned. “This complete idea of placing in 20% of what you should see if it’s sufficient makes zero sense.”

Can Boring’s tunnels transfer water from different elements of the town, and can the tunnels work?

Musk argued that Boring’s tunnels may very well be utilized in totally different elements of the town, not simply alongside Buffalo Bayou.

Some native officers agreed that Musk’s tunnels may really work higher for smaller watersheds that don’t tackle as a lot water as Buffalo Bayou.

Ramsey mentioned he helps exploring smaller tunnels for areas like Looking and Halls bayous, which run via different elements of the town and likewise want assets to strengthen their flood safety. The county commissioner publicly referred to as for a more in-depth take a look at narrower tunnels throughout a commissioners courtroom assembly in April, after Hunt had pitched him on Boring’s proposal in February.

“It’s one other instrument in our toolbox to assist mitigate flooding. And definitely with what’s taking place within the Hill Nation,” Ramsey mentioned, referring to latest deadly floods in Central Texas, “and what continues to occur in Harris County, we’d like as many instruments as we will probably get.”

Woodell, with the flood management district, instructed the newsrooms in August that the company initially centered on large-diameter tunnels as a result of engineering research recognized them as the simplest choice for a countywide system.

Nevertheless, she mentioned smaller tunnels may very well be a viable answer in sure areas. Since that concept had not been a spotlight of analysis, she added, extra research can be wanted earlier than any such challenge might transfer ahead.

Colleen Gilbert, government director of the Greens Bayou Coalition — a nonprofit that works to guard neighborhoods close to Greens Bayou, in northeast Houston — mentioned communities in her watershed are determined for reduction as properly. They’d welcome the large storm tunnel as soon as proposed by Harris County, she mentioned, however even smaller tunnels can be higher than nothing.

“We’d be thrilled to have any and all prospects checked out,” Gilbert mentioned. “If Congressman Hunt and The Boring Co. are this, we’re delighted to listen to it.”

Consultants and officers the newsrooms interviewed, nevertheless, nonetheless took difficulty with Musk’s sweeping assertion that “Boring Firm tunnels will work” as a result of it doesn’t keep in mind complexities of the challenge or that success largely is determined by what sort of system the county finally desires.

In a two-page memo Boring despatched to Hunt’s staff in February and that was circulated amongst native officers within the county, the corporate framed the pitch as an “revolutionary, cost-effective answer” to Houston’s continual flooding.

“We’re assured in our means to execute this challenge efficiently,” wrote Jim Fitzgerald, Boring’s international head of enterprise improvement.

However Dunbar mentioned the one technique to consider Musk’s declare is to deal with the aim of the stormwater tunnels.

If the purpose is to construct as giant a challenge as potential for the bottom worth, Dunbar mentioned, Boring’s proposal may match the invoice. But when the purpose is to defend lives and property from one other Hurricane Harvey-level flooding occasion, he believes the smaller-scale challenge merely doesn’t measure up.

“You must have some underlying cause why you construct this tunnel, what you’re attempting to perform,” Dunbar mentioned. “And I’ve not heard that Elon has provided that reply.”

Rock Owens, retired Harris County lawyer for environmental affairs who represented businesses together with the flood management district, mentioned he has seen native officers repeatedly greenlighting huge tasks that weren’t properly thought out and led to pricey authorized battles.

He pointed, for example, to flood management points alongside White Oak Bayou in northwest Houston. In a prolonged authorized battle that started in 1999, about 400 householders within the space blamed the county for approving upstream improvement with out satisfactory flood management, which they mentioned brought on repeated flooding of their houses.

The Texas Supreme Court docket finally dominated in favor of the county in 2016. However Owens mentioned even unsuccessful lawsuits are pricey and the sort of problem that would have uncovered the county to a considerable damages award.

Musk’s ethos of moving fast and worrying about penalties later, Owens mentioned, solely heightens the danger.

“That works nice within the personal sector, however not the general public sector,” he mentioned. “We’re not Mr. Musk’s private fortune; we’re trying on the livelihood and lifelong investments of people that stay right here.”