Elon Musk’s Boring Company evades millions in Nevada safety fines

Democratic lawmakers want the Clark County District Attorney’s Office to investigate Lombardo’s alleged interference in health, safety, and regulatory processes.

State Democrats want the Clark County District Attorney’s office to investigate what they call a “back door deal” involving Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo and Elon Musk’s Boring Company after a six-figure environmental fine quietly disappeared.

The situation stemmed from a call to the governor’s office last year between Boring Company executives and the governor’s office after state regulators imposed a $400,000 fine for hazardous work conditions that caused extreme harm. Following the call, state officials not only reversed the fine but also altered prosecutorial practices for “high-profile” companies, according to Fortune. The Boring Company is an “underground transportation startup” worth $5.6 billion, Fortune reports.

“Joe Lombardo’s administration let Elon Musk’s company off the hook after firefighters and employees suffered chemical burns in one of his company’s tunnels—and then tried to hide the evidence of this backdoor deal,” Democratic Assemblywoman Cinthia Zermeño Moore wrote in an email to The Nevadan-El Nevadense.

The party is urging prosecutors to examine whether the conduct constitutes a felony violation of state transparency laws.

Democrats cite a key, unrecorded meeting between Boring Company president Steve Davis and a group of top state officials, including the governor’s state infrastructure coordinator, as a possible violation of state open meeting laws. For Democrats, the situation reflects a broader pattern of Lombardo’s administration shielding powerful corporations from accountability, at the expense of worker safety. 

Under Nevada law, anyone “removing, injuring, or concealing public records and documents” is guilty of a category C felony. An investigation revealed that the meeting record between state bureaucrats and Davis had been deleted, prompting Assemblywomen Moore and Venise Karris to spearhead a call for a criminal investigation.

“The governor is supposed to work for Nevadans, not Elon Musk,” Karris wrote in a statement for The Nevadan-El Nevadense. 

Musk’s company is also accused of more than 800 environmental and safety violations across a Las Vegas project in the last two years, according to an investigation by ProPublica.

Despite this, the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection flexed its discretion in dealing with Boring Company, levying a $242,800 fine against the business, which could have been $3 million under a 2022 pollution agreement.

“Lombardo’s record of putting corporate interests above the interests of workers is clear,” Moore wrote in an email. “Last legislative session, Lombardo vetoed a bill that I sponsored, intended to protect workers exposed to toxic fumes and heat.”