Pacific Bell ordered to remove miles of lead-leaching telephone cables from Lake Tahoe

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. (KTXL) — AT&T’s Pacific Bell company has been ordered to remove roughly 8 miles of abandoned telecommunication lines discovered at the bottom of Lake Tahoe. The lines, discovered by divers and brought to authority’s attention by local nonprofit Below the Blue in 2020, had been abandoned by the company over 30 [...]

News MoLo November 20, 2021 1 min read

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. (KTXL) — AT&T’s Pacific Bell company has been ordered to remove roughly 8 miles of abandoned telecommunication lines discovered at the bottom of Lake Tahoe.

The lines, discovered by divers and brought to authority’s attention by local nonprofit Below the Blue in 2020, had been abandoned by the company over 30 years ago.

The cables have been leaching toxic lead into the lake for decades, the nonprofit said in a statement Friday. Numerous tests have confirmed the presence of lead — about 3 pounds per foot, extending 8 miles from Baldwin Beach to Rubicon Bay — totaling over 60 tons of the heavy metal. […]