WASHINGTON, D.C.—Following a massive Wall Street Journal investigative series that found more than 2,000 abandoned lead-sheathed telecom cables sitting in water or surface soil across the nation, several environmental groups have called on the Environmental Protection Agency to investigate the potential hazards these cables pose to consumers and the environment.
Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), Below the Blue, and Clean Water Action said in a letter submitted to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan that more than 300 of these cables pose a threat to community drinking water sources.
Lead is a well known toxic contaminant that can pose serious health threats, particularly to children. Exposure to the metal can result in permanent neurological damage. Just last week, EPA made clear that “there is no safe level of lead” and “even low levels are detrimental to children’s health,” the groups noted.
“EPA must prioritize the immediate removal of lead-sheathed cables accessible to children or strung overhead between telephone poles,” said Tom Neltner, senior director for safer chemicals at EDF. “These cables pose the greatest exposure risk to lead, and they can be easily fixed. For the underwater cables, EPA should assess the risk, prioritizing those in sources of water protected for drinking.”
The Wall Street Journal reports found that many of the abandoned cables run through or under rivers, streams, and lakes that serve as sources of drinking water for communities – as well as through neighborhoods, playgrounds, and greenways where children may be exposed to them.
The series raises some notable questions about both the health risks and the potential financial liability faced by telecommunications companies who laid the cables, prompting concerns that the issue might pose a problem on the scale of the multi-billion dollar Exxon Valdez cleanup.
The news follows decades of efforts by the U.S. government to eliminate lead from paint, apartment walls, gas, pipes and other areas.
Some of the groups were also involved in the research for the Wall Street Journal series.
They noted that EDF funded the Marine Taxonomic Services, Ltd. (MTS) to accompany the Journal’s reporters on site visits to collect samples and help locate lead cables in the field. EDF has made the MTS report on its work, including photos, available to the public on EDF’s website.
The results of lab tests of soil and water samples varied – from no detectable lead to an high lead level of 38,000 parts per billion from a single sample of water from Lake Tahoe.
Because the risk from these cables is unclear, EDF, Below the Blue, and Clean Water Action called on EPA to determine the potential risk to public health that the cables may pose.
The groups said the cables were installed between the 1880s and 1960s. They consist of lead pipes with copper wires inside and asphalt coating on the outside. Many were abandoned in place when they failed or became unnecessary, but when deserted, the open ends of those bundles were exposed—leaving the lead open to soil and water.
Without EPA intervention, the groups said they expect that the risk posed by the cables will increase as they deteriorate further and release lead into the environment.
"We have personally visited over 300 sites with lead-sheathed cables in communities across America,” said Seth Jones, co-founder of Below the Blue and President of MTS. “Research suggests that there are potentially thousands of other abandoned cables across the country. Given the number of cables identified across nine states, this is not a situation that can be addressed locally. We all need to know how big a problem this truly is for our country."
Lynn Thorp, national campaigns director at Clean Water Action, reviewed the findings and joined the call for EPA action. She said, “With communities nationwide grappling with the legacy of lead service lines in drinking water systems, it’s imperative that EPA act expeditiously to address these uncontrolled risks to drinking water sources and to prevent unnecessary additional lead exposures from any source.”
