A drone shot shows the initial boring in a state-owned parking lot in downtown Nashville for an underground tunnel for Tesla vehicles. (Photo: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)

When Boring Company officials took the stage in July to announce their new Music City Loop underground tunnel, federal, state and prominent Nashville business leaders attending hailed the project as transformative. But missing from the gathering was any elected official who represents Nashville.

Eight months later, company officials went before the Metro Nashville Council to a less enthusiastic crowd. Speakers ranging from Metro Council members to community organizers expressed concerns about the company’s past environmental violations and questioned why state leaders were pushing another project that emphasized the needs of tourists.

The council, building off the sizable local groundswell of anger over the project, passed a resolution opposing the tunnel.

But it didn’t matter because, as the project has progressed since the company’s announcement, the state has implemented a plan to keep the local Nashville government out. The tunnel is initially designed to run only along state highways, giving the state Department of Transportation permitting authority. Then, agreements to build stations were made with the Nashville Airport Authority and the city’s Convention Center Authority.

This week state Republican lawmakers passed legislation to create a new state-appointed agency to oversee every aspect of the tunnel project going forward, taking away permitting authority from local governments even if it the project moves onto city-controlled roads.

“We are bending state law to serve the whims of one man against the interests of Nashville,” said Democratic Rep. Justin Jones of Nashville, referring to billionaire Elon Musk’s ownership of the Boring Company during the bill’s debate.

Musk founded the Boring Company in 2017, with the goal of building underground tunnels in cities for Tesla vehicles, an electric vehicle company where he serves as CEO. Musk is one of the richest people in the world, owning significant stakes in Tesla, SpaceX, XAi and X (formerly known as Twitter).

He is also one of the largest donors to Republicans and President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign, securing a post in the administration as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency, DOGE, after the election. He resigned from the position after four months.

The Boring Company has announced projects in nearly a dozen cities, but most have fallen through. The company’s only completed project is in Las Vegas, but even that has not met predictions: Boring began construction on the planned 68 miles of tunnels in 2019 but seven years later, has completed 4.54 miles.

The company disputes charges it has committed over 800 environmental violations and said the vast majority of violations were paperwork-related.

In Nashville, the company released a 13-mile plan with connections throughout the city, primarily connecting downtown to the airport.

Those in favor of the project, such as Gov. Bill Lee and the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, have emphasized that the tunnel won’t cost taxpayers and could benefit the city’s thriving tourist industry.

“Tennessee continues to lead the nation in finding innovative solutions to accommodate growth,” Lee said in a news release.

TN Lawmakers cut new proposed agency to oversee Boring Company tunnel from 20 staffers to 3

But the project has served as a continued proxy fight over who should have oversight of Nashville’s tourism and development: the Republican state legislature or the Metro government, whose voters are primarily Democrats.

This particular policy debate has spanned over a decade, accelerating in the last five years as state Republicans approved hundreds of millions of dollars to attract Oracle to the East Bank, build a new Tennessee Titans NFL stadium and a new Tennessee Performing Arts Center. The Metro Nashville Council has also put up a nearly equal share of local tax dollars to fund these projects.

Republican leaders believe Nashville would overregulate its tourism industry and ruin one of the most valuable economic drivers for the state’s business community.

Franklin Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson has been the primary legislative leader pushing for the new tunnel authority. He visited the Las Vegas Boring tunnel and said during the bill’s debate that the project’s success has been hampered by the local government.

“There has been unnecessary bureaucratic regulation,” Johnson said.

Metro Council opposition is fueled by constituents, who over the years, have elected officials who promised to shift the city’s government away from a tourism-centric focus.

Every Nashville state lawmaker voted against the bill, and most stood up to oppose it.

The tunnel oversight board will consist of nine members, with the governor, the Senate Speaker and the House Speaker each appointing three members.

“We already have a public transit system,” said Aftyn Behn, a Nashville Democrat, during the legislation’s debate. “The General Assembly has said we’re not investing in your public transportation. If it’s about Nashville, we should have people appointed to the board.”

Tennessee Lookout is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Tennessee Lookout maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Holly McCall for questions: info@tennesseelookout.com.

This article, “How TN Republican lawmakers insulated Musk’s Boring Company tunnel in Nashville from local officials,” has been republished from the Tennessee Lookout under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.