AT&T to remove 8 miles of lead cables from Lake Tahoe, WSJ reports

AT&T (T) has agreed to remove 8 miles of lead-covered cables from Lake Tahoe, following a drawn out legal battle with environmental group California Sportfishing Protection Alliance over their removal, The Wall Street Journal’s Susan Pulliam and Shalini Ramachandran report, citing court documents. The CSPA said it found high levels of lead in water and sediment near the cables and in algae, while AT&T said it hired nine experts to examine the issue and concluded that the cables did “not pose any risk to human health or the environment.” A Wall Street Journal investigation last year found that AT&T, Verizon (VZ) and other telecom companies left behind a major network of cables covered in toxic lead that stretches across the U.S., under the water, in the soil and on poles overhead. “Last summer, following news reports regarding the cables, we paused the removal process to allow for further analysis by experts,” said AT&T official Marc Blakeman in a statement. “Now that these studies have been performed and confirmed the safety of the cables, we can return to our commitment to remove the cables,” he said.