As we are told to look forward to the new private market expertise and efficiency of DOGE, it is sometimes important to examine what those brilliant leaders have done in their own businesses.
Today, Bloomberg has an exclusive about a lithium plant that Tesla decided to build in a drought ridden area twenty miles outside of Corpus Christi, Texas. I aplogize that it is behind a paywall. I’d like to highlight a couple points, and provide a link that subscribers can access: Musk’s Massive Tesla Lithium Plant Hunts for Water in Drought-Hit Texas.
In 2022, Tesla decided to build a lithium plant in the area, in part because the regulatorary environment is lax:
One way he’s been able to expedite projects has been to build factories in Texas’ city buffer zones or unincorporated areas that have fewer rules and government oversight compared with bigger cities.
So the factory could be build quickly, even though it was in “an area so dry the local water company distributes shower timers at high school football games.”
In the spirit of being efficient and getting things done fast, Tesla moved forward, spending $1 billion on the plant without bothering to secure a contract for the water it needs to operate. At the time, “Tesla estimated it would need 400,000 gallons per day to run the lithium plant, rising to 800,000 gallons per day at peak usage.”
After moving forward with the building, they realized they hadn’t done their research properly. There was more than a slight increase in the estimated water needs:
Two years later, a Tesla employee told a consulting firm, Raftelis, that the forecast has spiked to as high as 8 million gallons per day, according to South Texas Water Authority records obtained by Bloomberg News through a public records request.
10 times more than the previous estimate of peak water needs.
Oops.
(And good for Bloomberg for investigating and requesting public records.)
In an area that is already trying to conserve residential water use, Tesla’s needs amount to “eight times Robstown’s average residential water use.”
I understand that software and technology companies move quickly. Sometimes they release software or products that they know will have to be fixed or refined, because speed to market is important. I’m not in that industry. Maybe some of our members who are familiar with the industry practices can comment. Personally, I find it a bit irritating and inconvenient when I download a software update and there is a glitch. The practice has worked over the years.
But government services are different. Our government runs the air traffic control system and the military. It distributes crucial services and benefits. We depend upon it for our security, healthcare, education and transportation. Poor planning in the tech world causes inconvenience. Poor execution at the level of the federal government can be deadly.
In the meantime, I wish the best for the people who live in the area:
“They’re telling us to take shorter showers and turn the faucet off when we’re brushing our teeth,” said Marie Lucio, a resident of the nearby Lost Creek neighborhood. The area already has frequent problems with water quality, including low pressure and a milky-like tint, and she’s worried the area’s aging water pipes won’t be able to keep up with new demand like the Tesla factory. “We’re not equipped to handle getting water to these industries.”
