Jun 8, 2017, 4:28pm ET

City official says Musk's Boring Company an 'absurd pipe dream'

Santa Monica city manager Rick Cole says the permitting and environmental review litigation could go on for decades.

A California city official has dismissed Elon Musk's tunneling ambition as patently unattainable due to bureaucratic red tape.

Frustrated with the 'soul-destroying' traffic the Los Angeles area -- home to both SpaceX and Tesla -- Musk recently formed The Boring Company to revolutionize tunneling and move some of the city's traffic underground.

The startup wants to shrink tunnel diameters and improve boring machines to significantly slash construction costs below the current level of around a billion dollars per mile.

Speaking to the Los Angeles Business Journal, Santa Monica city manager Rick Cole did not address Musk's technological proposals but rather the idea that any tunneling, especially by a private company, could clear permitting and environmental review hurdles.

"We would laugh them out of our office," he said. "It's a completely absurd pipe dream."

The city official suggests the complexity, regulatory hurdles and challenges with rights-of-way could stretch the approval process out "for decades." The newspaper points to LA's 2012 attempt to extend a subway tunnel under Beverly Hills. The effort encountered fierce opposition from the community and has now been stalled until 2024 at a cost of $6.3 billion.

The Boring Company is apparently getting its feet wet with tunnels under SpaceX' headquarters, but the company is undoubtedly aware of the bureaucratic challenges it will face if it wants to extend its underground network onto city property. California's environmental regulations kept the state out of the running for Tesla's Gigafactory and would discourage The Boring Company from building its first serious transportation tunnel there.

Although Musk has a personal interest in alleviating Los Angeles traffic, The Boring Company has not officially confirmed any intention to only operate in LA. If the startup follows Tesla's lead and survives to a mature company ready to start digging, it could seek a project that balances the highest bidder and minimal red tape.