AT&T 

Company says lead wires in Lake Tahoe "pose no hazard" and must remain in place

AT&T's legacy telephone network may have as many as 200,000 miles of cable covered in lead, according to an estimate AT&T filed in a court filing.

“Based on its records, AT&T estimates that lead-sheathed cables represent less than 10 percent of its copper footprint of approximately two million miles of cable sheath, the overwhelming majority of which remains in active service,” AT&T wrote in a statement. court case yesterday in the US District Court for the Eastern District of California. “More than two-thirds of their lead-lined cabling is buried or in conduit, followed by overhead cable, and with a very small portion going underwater. There are varying installation, maintenance and removal costs by cable type (aerial, buried, buried in conduit, underwater).”

Reacting to the lawsuit, financial analysis firm Raymond James & Associates wrote in a research note: "AT&T is telling us that the total exposure is 200,000 route miles or less." With about two-thirds of lead cables buried or installed within conduit, “we believe the implication of the AT&T data is that the route miles that should be addressed more immediately are about 3.3% (or less),” wrote the analytics company.

AT&T's new lawsuit comes in a case filed against AT&T subsidiary Pacific Bell by the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA) in January 2021. The sportfishing group sued AT&T over cables that are allegedly "damaged and discharging lead in Lake Tahoe”.

The two underwater cables run along the bottom of the west side of Lake Tahoe for a total of 13 kilometers. AT&T "argues that it stopped using the cables in or before the 1980s, that the easements were terminated, and that the defendant no longer owns the cables," according to a November 2021 settlement.

AT&T agreed in that deal to remove the cables, but now says it is at an "impasse" with the CSPA regarding the removal. “In this matter, AT&T has always maintained that its lead-lined telecommunications cables pose no danger to those who work and play in the waters of Lake Tahoe, but in 2021, AT&T has agreed to remove them simply to avoid litigation expense.” , he said. an AT&T attorney for the firm Paul Hastings wrote yesterday in a letter to the plaintiff that was attached to the court filing.

AT&T said that “the parties must agree to keep these cables in place to allow for further review by any qualified and independent interested party, including the EPA, and allow the safety of these cables to be litigated with objective scientific evidence, rather than sensationalist media coverage. To do otherwise would give the erroneous impression that these cables pose a health risk, which they do not, and would destroy the evidence necessary for all relevant facts to be made public in court.”

To support its argument, AT&T cited the Environmental Defense Fund's nonprofit position that the EPA should investigate underwater cables:

AT&T is not alone in this conclusion. In fact, just yesterday, in an open letter to the US Environmental Protection Agency, the Environmental Defense Fund recommended that “EPA assess the condition of underwater cables to determine their condition, their current and anticipated releases to the environment and risks represented by their removal or remaining in place.” AT&T agrees.

The Environmental Defense Fund statement was about underwater cables in general and not specifically for Lake Tahoe.

AT&T denies confirming it would remove the cables...AT&T's position that it will not remove the Lake Tahoe cables any time soon is apparently a surprise to the plaintiff. CSPA said in a court filing last week at a Zoom meeting on July 10, “AT&T has confirmed that it is prepared to begin the removal process on September 6, 2023, provided that the new license application that AT&T sent to State Parks in May to be approved by the State Park. “

AT&T's filing said the company has never "confirmed" that it is prepared to begin the cable removal process on September 6.

The CSPA argues that lead-covered cables "have leached, are leaching, and will continue to leach lead into Lake Tahoe waters, and that such leaching could pose an imminent and substantial danger to human health or the environment."

Source: Ars Technica – All content