
Tesla CEO Elon Musk vows to 'fix' tainted water in Flint, Michigan - prostoalex
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2018/07/11/tesla-ceo-elon-musk-says-he-ready-tackle-contaminated-water-flint-mich/777221002/
======
vadym909
While I appreciate the IronMan'esque eagerness to solve every problem the
world is facing, I think he should be focusing on getting us the $35K Model 3
promised a while ago.

~~~
colordrops
Do you really think him tweeting something and having an assistant hire some
private contractors with his personal money is affecting model 3 production
rates?

~~~
ofrzeta
It's about focus vs. distraction. I guess he's free to do what he wants but he
already operates Tesla, Boringco, SpaceX. It's just not realistic that you can
do all of this and build a rescue submarine in a week and what not. Again,
obviously he's free to do (and tweet) what he wants but people (and media)
should really start taking his claims with more than a grain of salt. It's
becoming more and more a sign of delusions of grandeur. His first priority
should be to stop Tesla cars from crashing, in my opinion.

Just look at the bold claims Boringco made that got reported ad nauseam and
look at what they are realistically doing now. In my opinion he should try to
achieve some of those goals or (xor) keep a low profile for a while.

~~~
colordrops
Do Teslas crash at a higher rate than other cars?

And what claims has Boring co made that they aren't doing?

Do you have sources to back this up?

~~~
ofrzeta
It's not about other cars or Teslas with human drivers but about the autopilot
(that Musk also keeps making grandiose claims about).

Boring co started with the bold claims claim of a 760mph Hyperloop. Now a team
from Munich arrived at 223mph while Boring co has sized down from a Hyperloop
with cars to a high-speed subway called the "Chicago Express Loop, [that]
would use a concrete track within the tunnel, and passenger-carrying skates
[that] will be able to travel at speed up to 150 miles per hour".
[https://eu.usatoday.com/story/tech/2018/06/14/chicago-
elon-m...](https://eu.usatoday.com/story/tech/2018/06/14/chicago-elon-musk-
ohare-high-speed-transit-project/700724002/)

Actually I wonder how they won the bid in Chicago with a track record of
nothing. Well: 'We're taking a bet on a guy who doesn't like to fail," said
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

~~~
colordrops
Boring Company never promised the hyper loop at its inception. When Elon
initially proposed the hyper loop, he said the idea needed work and he wasn't
going to attempt it himself.

But don't let that get in the way of your personal vendetta with Elon.

------
Animats
Focus!

Where's the crewed Dragon?[1] How come Model 3 production is down again?[2]

[1]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17509988](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17509988)
[2] [https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2018-tesla-
tracker/](https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2018-tesla-tracker/)

~~~
colordrops
Yes Elon should stop tweeting and start welding. /s

~~~
Fricken
As Musk has said on several occasions in the past, his role as CEO is to
direct his attention to what's most critical, and for both Spacex and Tesla
it's his savior complex that needs work.

UNICEF claims there's a child dying of starvation every 10 minutes right now
in Yemen. Maybe he can apply his engineering genius and get 12 of them some
breakfast to make up for his minisub misadventure in Thailand.

~~~
dismantlethesun
Don't you ever do things outside of your regular job for 'fun'? Do you have
any side projects perhaps?

For Musk, this is the equivalent of a side project---something within his
field of interest, but not directly a money maker. It's both an interesting
problem, and so happens to do good.

I think it would be good for society to encourage the rich to have this sort
of interst, instead of just falling into the hobby of golfing or driving
supercars.

~~~
Fricken
So his side project is hogging the spotlight. I guess that's fair, he hasn't
been in the news much lately.

------
ModernMech
Why can't we just tax people and let the government fix stuff like this? Isn't
that how its supposed to work? What was wrong with that idea?

~~~
grecy
It works everywhere else in the Developed world, but for some reason the USA
doesn't function like other functioning countries.

~~~
gremlinsinc
It used to...then Reaganomics hit and we dropped taxes on the rich by half,and
raised them on the poor instead, thinking more middle class taxes can offset
the 40 people at the top who now pay half as much as they used to.

------
jv22222
I think this was what started him thinking about Flint:

[http://www.wnem.com/story/38593466/more-than-500-bikes-
given...](http://www.wnem.com/story/38593466/more-than-500-bikes-given-to-
children-in-flint-for-summer-bash)

Then folks saw that he was thinking about flint and asked him to help with the
water stuff.

------
dev_dull
My understanding was that the water isn't actually contaminated, but that they
aren't treating it with something that prevents lead from being released in
all of the piping. Can someone comment on this?

If that's the case, then really the only thing you can do is put some kind of
filter directly on the line to the house.

~~~
maxerickson
Yeah, it was the PH of the source water that Flint switched to that triggered
the issues, it dissolved the coating that develops on the inside of pipes
(scale).

The city switched back to Detroit water in _2015_ (and has since signed a 30
year contract with the succeeding entity that now runs that system) and the
state is moving towards requiring eventual replacement of all lead service
lines¹.

1\. [https://www.michigan.gov/documents/deq/deq-tou-dwmad-
LeadCop...](https://www.michigan.gov/documents/deq/deq-tou-dwmad-
LeadCopperRuleRequirements_606928_7.pdf)

------
RickJWagner
Hmmm, why now?

Shouldn't he be fixing Model 3 production problems?

------
echlebek
If it takes a private corporation to fix the contaminated water problem in
Flint, it's an utter disgrace and a pathetic failing of federal, state and
municipal government. It's hard to understand how such abject failure can be
allowed to continue.

~~~
exotree
A lot of people would consider this a positive and obvious outcome. (For the
record, I do not.)

~~~
lgas
You don't consider it positive or you don't consider it obvious (or both)?
...and why not?

------
67_45
The endless debate about this man undertaking various projects that will
improve society if they pan out is absolutely vapid. This doesn't belong here.

~~~
MotionCaster
Who are you to decide what belongs here? For profit or not, it epitomizes the
fact that he is channeling his wealth towards decent course. What have you
done for humanity lately?

[https://www.sciencealert.com/elon-musk-s-south-australian-
ba...](https://www.sciencealert.com/elon-musk-s-south-australian-battery-
responded-in-just-140-milliseconds-after-a-coal-fired-power-plant-failed)

[https://www.electrive.com/2018/04/20/tesla-to-power-
puerto-r...](https://www.electrive.com/2018/04/20/tesla-to-power-puerto-rico/)

[https://www.cnbc.com/video/2018/07/10/elon-musk-spacex-
subma...](https://www.cnbc.com/video/2018/07/10/elon-musk-spacex-submarine-
thai-cave.html)

~~~
67_45
You are a fool. I am pro musk in this case. The rules of the website decide
what is appropriate to post and this does not meet the criteria by any stretch
of the imagination. It is a misleading article that touches on an
unsubstantive topic that is known to be controversial. It serves no other
purpose than to stoke argument.

~~~
dang
Personal attacks will get you banned here regardless of how right you are.
Please don't post like that again.

I agree with you that HN has reached peak Musk Mania.

