AT&T halts removal of lead cables as toxic corporate legacies rear their costly heads
Buried but not forgotten… The Wall Street Journal recently published a bombshell report identifying 2K+ toxic lead-sheathed cables across the US, owned by telecom titans including AT&T and Verizon. Telecoms started moving away from lead-covered cables in the 1950s, but left many in the ground. One big shocker from the report: soil and water near dozens of the cables was found to contain levels of lead that far exceeded EPA safety recommendations, suggesting leaching. FYI: health experts caution that no amount of lead exposure is safe — and that it can hurt kids’ development.
The latest: AT&T said it’d pause the planned removal of cables from California’s Lake Tahoe as it holds off for additional testing.
Like a lead balloon… Telecom stocks sank this week, with AT&T hitting a 30-year low on Tuesday as investors worried about potential lawsuits.
Costly consequences… The buried lead cables aren’t going anywhere soon, with one analyst saying they could take decades to deal with. Experts say it could cost up to $60B to remove and properly dispose of them. And even that presents health risks: The Journal reported that a 2010 internal AT&T report said that removing the cables could lead to worker overexposure.
Past mistakes can haunt future profits… The telecom industry isn’t the first to face a housekeeping hangover. Last month 3M agreed to pay a $10.3B settlement after US cities said the company’s chemicals polluted drinking water for decades. Earlier this year Johnson & Johnson said it’d pay a ~$9B settlement related to a decade-plus legal battle over its talcum powder. Asbestos-related court battles and settlements have been ongoing since at least the early ’70s, but the EPA is still fighting to ban remaining uses of asbestos.