Elon Musk ’s tunneling business firm , the Boring Company , has jibe to “ help ” the government ’s Federal Railroad Administration with a multi - billion dollar project to establish a caravan burrow in Maryland . While it ’s not yet clear that Musk ’s company will actually get a contract bridge related to the project , it seems like yet another conflict - of - interest group for the billionaire , who has exerted excessive influence over the political science ever since Donald Trump consume office .
The New York Timesreports thatMusk ’s company is helping the government assess “ the toll and progression ” of the Frederick Douglass Tunnel program , a new underground Amtrak route that has been plan to replace an aging tunnel system of rules that connects Baltimore to Washington and Virginia . Department of Transportation official recently met with representatives from the Boring Company to hash out the labor and were tell that Musk ’s firm could “ find way to build up the burrow more cheaply and efficiently , ” the paper writes .
The project has been in development for what seems like forever . The FRA and the MDOT initiallyannounceda bill of purpose for the projection in 2014 , over ten years ago . Since then , the project price of the burrow has also ballooned , cut through upwards from the original estimate of $ 6 billion to a more recent price tatter of just over $ 8 billion , the Times write . Last year , Amtrakpickedtwo construction company — Kiewit and J.F. Shea — to build up the burrow .
© Photo by Richard Bord/WireImage
A Transportation Department representative state the newspaper that no “ decision has been made on bids ” yet and that “ Amtrak in coordination with D.O.T. will succeed standard procedures for bidding out catching and subcontracting . ” Gizmodo reached out to the Department and to the Boring Company for more information .
The Boring Company wasfounded in 2016and allegedly sprang from Musk ’s desire to create a shipping solution that could allow driver to forefend dealings jams . The firm has announced many projects over the class , many of whichhave betray to come to realisation . presently , the society is working on a new tunnel system under Las Vegas , which it calls the “ Vegas Loop . ” A late ProPublicainvestigationshowed that the Vegas venture , which is being privately funded by Musk , is go without much of the regulatory lapse that a labor of such a size and ambit would traditionally have . The ship’s company also latterly announce program todevelop a 10 - nautical mile tunnel in Dubai .
Musk’sprominence in the Trump administrationis well - be intimate and , everywhere you attend , the billionaire seem to be benefiting from his politics tie . A recent report from the Washington Post showed that the White House has beenbullying tariff countriesto adopt avail from the billionaire ’s satellite internet company , Starlink . Starlink has seen other nebulous and problematic pacts with the U.S. government , including at the Federal Aviation Administration and in the White House . SpaceX alsoseems to havea variety of potential conflicts of interest , thanks to DOGE ’s interactions with NASA . Another recent report also shows that the billionaire ’s companies may have bring through nearly $ 2.37 billion from federal fines and penalties that were dynamic under Biden buthave since been “ neutralized”in the Trump epoch .
As Musk has profit off his work in political science , he has also sought to undermine many of the social services that are designed to benefit everyday Americans . His so - call off Department of Government Efficiency ( DOGE ) has taken target at many agencies that protect consumers , including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau , which would have potentiallyoverseenMusk ’s platform , X , had the agency not been gutted by DOGE . Critics also maintain that DOGE isworking to wreckthe Social Security Administration , which is the basics of the national retirement system .
At the same time , Musk ’s work with the government has also goad problems for his businesses , include a countrywide political movement — the#TeslaTakedown protests — that have sought to place Musk through his car company Tesla . The EV company has suffered egregiously since Musk began helping the Trump disposal . A recent earnings report showed the company ’s profitswere down 71 percentin the first three calendar month of this year .
tedious CompanyElon MuskTESLA
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