Children's Health Defense By
More than 2,000 toxic lead-coated cables left behind by telecommunications companies stretch across the country on overhead poles and through soils and water, contaminating the environment as they degrade, according to a new investigation by The Wall Street Journal.
Lead levels in sediment and soil near the cables exceeded safety recommendations set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) at more than four dozen locations tested by WSJ investigators.
The WSJ also found lead from the cables at nearly 130 underwater cable sites, including along the Mississippi River in Louisiana, the Detroit River in Michigan, the Willamette River in Oregon and the Passaic River in New Jersey.
AT&T, Verizon and other companies that took over Bell System’s infrastructure in the 1980s have known about the cables and the risks they posed to workers and their potential for leaching into the environment but haven’t addressed the issues, according to internal documents and interviews.
Given the existence of other sources of lead closer to people’s homes, the companies told the WSJ they don’t believe the cables are a public health hazard, claiming they follow regulatory safety guidelines for workers…
