With hundreds of exhibits and assistants on their computers, as the hearing commenced May 22 it was hard not to ponder all the billable hours piling up. The scene made it harder to imagine this dispute is over something as simple as a right-of-way issue on undeveloped land.

With 150-year-old county buildings and aging infrastructure — including a water system built in the 1850s still used to service Virginia City — the lack of tax revenue from Tesla means Storey County is waiting on the expiration of abatements to act on its capital needs. 

Documents, election records and interviews show an insular county gave a private water company controlled by the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center (TRIC) the power of a public entity. The deal reflects greater tensions about whether certain companies are benefiting from the region’s rapid growth and which politicians have given them an upper hand.