State officials have issued a lengthy rebuttal to a story published by Fortune last week, denying that Gov. Joe Lombardo or his staff applied political pressure so they would help Elon Musk’s Boring Co. avoid more than $400,000 in occupational hazard fines. 

In a nearly 2,000-word statement Wednesday titled “Setting the record straight,” the Nevada Department of Business and Industry (DBI) said that the Nevada Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) had looked into the fines and withdrew them based on findings that the “citations were in fact legally insufficient.” The agency said that was based on four key legal requirements: standard applies, standard violated, employee exposure and employer knowledge. 

The Boring Co. did not respond to comment in time for publication. In an emailed statement to The Independent, Patrick Reilly, a spokesperson from Fortune said, “We stand by our reporting and the facts included in the story.”

The Fortune article, based on a public records request, reported that two firefighters had suffered chemical burns on their legs during a training exercise and were taken to the hospital as a result of their injuries. A former The Boring Co. employee cited in the article, who was granted anonymity, said the chemical burns came from a toxic “muck” in the tunnels. 

“They go to peel off their sock,” the former employee said, “And a big old chunk of skin comes off.”

The DBI statement acknowledged Nevada OSHA had made “mistakes” in its citations against The Boring Co., calling them “improperly issued,” which led to the citations being rescinded. Though the citations did follow the proper chain of command, the statement said, “the best practice of submitting willful citations for a legal review was not followed.” 

Nevada OSHA has eight citations against The Boring Co. that were validly issued and are under review, according to the statement. 

The statement denied any preferential treatment or political influence in the investigation and lamented a “growing and misguided attempt to paint this as a process tainted by political interference.” It added that the Boring Company’s outreach to the governor’s office “is not an anomaly and only stands out due to the high-profile nature of the business because of its affiliation with Elon Musk.”

“At no time did the governor’s staff pressure, imply or direct that the agency take any specific action beyond engaging in a fact-finding exercise,” the statement from the DBI read. 

Read the full document here:

This story was updated at 3:11 p.m. on 11/19/25 to add a statement from Fortune and an updated PDF version of the Department of Business statement. It was also updated at 3:39 p.m. on 11/19/25 to add an additional sentence from the statement and at 5:17 p.m to add a legal memo provided by the Department of Business.