AT&T has launched the AT&T Lake Tahoe lead cable removal project to clear about six miles of old lead-sheathed cables submerged in Lake Tahoe for decades. The cleanup follows a settlement with the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA), which claimed the cables polluted lake water and sediment with toxic lead.
As part of the agreement, AT&T will remove roughly 107,000 pounds of unused copper cable from the lakebed. The deal ends a 2021 lawsuit in which CSPA alleged that decaying cables leaked lead into Lake Tahoe’s ecosystem. Tests confirmed elevated lead levels in nearby water and sediment.
Lake Tahoe, straddling California and Nevada, is a critical freshwater habitat. CSPA said the contamination endangered aquatic species and could threaten public health.
The submerged cables consist of paper-wrapped copper wire, reinforced with spiral steel rods and coated in a fiber layer saturated with bitumen tar. Each foot of cable contains roughly 3.39 pounds of lead. A research team hired by CSPA’s attorneys discovered that algae biofilms, which serve as a primary food source for fish, contained 67,000 times more lead when sampled near the cables compared to natural rock samples.
AT&T continues to assert that multiple independent studies found no public health or environmental risk from the submerged cables. However, a company spokesperson acknowledged that this agreement offers a “practical and amicable resolution” to extended litigation.
Divers first uncovered the cables around 12 years ago on Lake Tahoe’s sandy bottom. Records trace them back about a century to installations by Pacific Bell Telephone Company, a predecessor to AT&T. After their rediscovery, CSPA filed suit three years ago seeking full removal to prevent further ecological damage.