Experts say Elon Musk’s comments on flood tunnels are a misleading Houston

The billionaire Elon Musk faces a problem with Conversation By Houston Chronicle and Texas Newsroom, which raised questions about the flood tunnel project that he plays to address the problems of chronic floods in Houston. But the experts said that his response, which he did not explain to the news rooms, was not supported by facts or data.

Last month, news rooms reported that Musk’s Tunneling Company, The Poring Co. She presses the elected officials for several months to allow them to build tunnels under Houston to relieve floods. The boring of a tunnel is suggested at the level of 12 feet below Buffalo Bayu-the main waterway that runs across the center of Houston-transporting storm water from the neighborhoods and towards the Gulf of Mexico during the main storms. However, experts say that large tunnels, which are close to 30 to 40 feet, can carry more water and be more effective.

Musk and PORING actors did not respond to the interview requests or answer the questions that the news rooms have previously sent about the story of last month about whether the smaller PORING spending will be able to deal with the Houston flooding scale that is likely to face in the future.

Instead, wait for Musk, even hours after the story was published to publish a Reply to xSocial Communication Company He has been owned since 2022.

“The boring company tunnels will work at a cost of less than 10 % of the alternatives,” I read on August 28. “If more flow is needed, additional tunnels can be built and moreover the path water can be from many parts of the city, not only.”

The post was written in response to a post on the X of the United States, Wesley Hunt, a Republican in Houston that helped arrange special meetings with government officials in Harris Province and through the state to sell it in the boring flood tunnel plan. Hunt also did not answer questions from the news rooms before publishing the original story, but he was weighed on X after publishing the story.

“One of the members of the Congress in Houston and Takas spoke for life to the smartest man on the planet about resolving the issue of generations’ flooding in our city, no one else will replace it,” Hunt wrote.

The musk post did not provide any engineering data or interpretation to support its assurances. So, the news rooms examined his statements, compared them with flood studies, and conducted an interview with engineering experts, some of whom referred to the main technical and logistical challenges with the boring plan.

One of Musk claims is likely to be wrong, and others can not yet check for certainty, according to the examination rooms.

Again, when the news rooms pressed musk and boring actors to explain the billionaire billionaire claims, they did not respond. He did not hunt.

Do boring tunnels cost less than 10 % of alternatives?

Musk’s proposal bears a lower price than the largest cost of the largest system that the flood control area has spent years and millions of dollars. But this is partly because the two are remarkable proposals.

The Buffalo Bayou team will cost $ 760 million, according to the internal communications obtained by news rooms through public record requests.

On the other hand, the province’s anti -flooding area in 2022 suggested tunnels from 30 to 40 feet to that part of the system at a price of about $ 4.6 billion.

Since the project is still in the search stage, the boycott numbers are primary. But based on the available numbers, the PORING’s proposal will cost closer to the sixth of the boycott estimate-at least 10 %, as proposed by Musk. So it seems that musk exaggerates the cheapest system.

Flood anti -flood experts also stressed that the low price is somewhat proportional to the low ability to spend the narrower poring. It will provide tunnels of two of 12 feet less than the fifth of the storage units offered by a 40 -foot tunnel.

This means that they will transform less water than the weak areas of a large tunnel.

Jim Blackburn, an environmental lawyer in Houston and a flood policy expert, said, while Musk deserves a fair hearing, but the cheapest does not mean better automatically.

“If it is a smaller tunnel, I expect it to cost it less,” said Blackburn. “You have to consider the amount of floods you get for the dollars you spend.”

Emily Woodle, a spokeswoman for Harris County Flood Control, said the agency needs more information before it can influence any Musk claims.

“We have to do a lot of study before anything can go forward, so I don’t want to speculate,” she said. “Until we have a project or another study, we direct people to our website for the reports and data that we have collected so far.”

Can additional tunnels be built for more water flow?

The Musk Publisher said if more flood water is needed, more tunnels can be added. Engineers said it is not so simple.

Larry Dunbar, a veteran water resource engineer who advised government agencies in Houston on sanitation issues, said based on size alone, it will take about 11 Powering tunnels to carry the same amount of water as one of the large tunnels. Looking alongside side by side, with enough space between them to keep the ground stable, the full system can extend hundreds of feet. He said this requires securing rights for more lands and building more maintenance points.

Dunbar said that every new stage of construction may bring another round of reviews and packaging costs, as it undermines the speed and ability to bear the costs that he described boring as the main advantages of its suggestion.

“The issues begin to get more and more complicated,” said Dunbar. “This cannot be done, but just to throw there -” Oh, if we need more, we will do more ” – well, there is a lot of what it is.”

Harris Tom Ramsey County Commissioner, who has an engineering background, agreed. Ramsey said that more tunnels also mean more equipment that must be preserved, which may increase the long -term costs.

He added that the boycott will need to decide on the full plan at first so that all elements of the system such as pumps, banks and specifications can be designed properly.

“It will not be easy to add additional tunnels later,” Ramzi said.

John Blunt, a former engineer in Harris Province, retired more than three decades after the province, and likewise, Musk’s suggestion refused that he could build more tunnels if the initial plan was short.

While working on other infrastructure projects, Blunt said, a number of contractors who are able to build large tunnels have been sufficient to deal with the job properly the first time.

He said, “Do not start young and discover it later.” “This complete concept to put 20 % of what you need to see if this is sufficient, it is the zero meaning.”

Can the poring tunnels transmit water from other parts of the city, and does the tunnels work?

Musk has argued that PORING tunnels can be used in different parts of the city, not just along Buffalo Bayu.

Some local officials have agreed that Musk tunnels may already work better for smaller water gatherings that do not take much water like Buffalo Bayou.

Ramsey said he supports exploration of smaller tunnels for areas such as hunting and Bios halls, which pass through other parts of the city and also needs resources to enhance flood protection. The provincial commissioner has publicly called for a closer look at narrower tunnels during a meeting of the Court of Commissioners in April, after Hunt put it on a boring proposal in February.

“It is another tool in our tool box to help The deadly floods in the center of Texas“And what is still happening in Harris Province, we need the largest possible number of tools.”

Woodell, with the flood control area, told August that the agency initially focused on tunnels with large diameter because engineering studies have identified it as the most effective option for a boycott system.

However, she said that smaller tunnels can be an applicable solution in certain areas. She added that this idea was not the focus of the research, and more study will be needed before any such project could move forward.

Collin Gilbert, Executive Director of the Green Bayu coalition – a non -profit organization that works to protect neighborhoods near Greens Bayu, in northeastern Houston – said that societies in their water gatherings are also desperate. She said she would welcome the huge storm tunnel suggested by Harris County once, but even smaller tunnels would be better than nothing.

“We will feel overwhelmed to look at all the possibilities,” Gilbert said. “If you look at the Congress in Hunt and his boring company in this, we are happy to hear.”

However, experts and officials who were interviewed in an interview with the comprehensive Musk statement still “the tunnels of the boring company will work” because it does not take into account the complexities of the project or that success depends largely on the type of system that the boycott wants in the end.

in Two larted note It was sent to the Hunt team in February and was circulated among local officials in the province, where the company frame the stadium as a “innovative and cost -effective solution” for the chronic floods in Houston.

“We are confident of our ability to implement this project successfully,” Jim Fitzgerald, the global president for business development, wrote.

But Dunbar said the only way to assess the Musk claim is to focus on the purpose of rain water tunnels.

If the goal is to build a large project as much as possible for the lowest price, Dunbar said, that the PORING proposal may be suitable for the bill. But if the goal is to protect lives and property from the flood event at the level of Hurricane Harvey, then he believes that the smaller project is simply not measured.

“You must have a basic reason for the reason for building this tunnel, what you are trying to achieve,” Dunbar said. “I have not heard that Elon gave this answer.”

Rock Owens, a retired Harris County lawyer for environmental affairs, which represented agencies, including the flood control area, said that local officials have repeatedly seen huge projects that have not been well thoughtful and led to costly legal battles.

He pointed out, for example, to flood control issues along White Ok Bio In the northwest of Houston. In a lengthy legal battle that began in 1999, about 400 house owners in the region blamed the boycott for approval of development on the source without adequate control of floods, which they said caused frequent floods of their homes.

The Texas Supreme Court has eventually sentenced the province in 2016. But Owens said that uncomfortable lawsuits were expensive and the type of challenge that could have presented the province for a major damage award.

Musk The spirit of moving quickly Owenz said that anxiety about the consequences later increases the risks.

“This works well in the private sector, but not the public sector,” he said. “We do not look at Mr. Musk’s personal wealth; we look at life and life investments for the people who live here.”