Three environmental groups called on the Environmental Protection Agency to shield the public from the release of lead from cables left behind by telecom companies.
In a letter Monday to the EPA, the groups asked the federal agency to ensure the “immediate removal” of all abandoned aerial lead-covered cables hung up on poles and lead infrastructure accessible to children from the ground. The groups also asked the EPA to assess the risks of underwater cables, giving priority to those in areas the regulator designates as important to protect drinking water supply.
A Wall Street Journal investigation revealed that AT&T, Verizon and other telecom companies have left behind more than 2,000 toxic lead cables on poles, under waterways and in the soil across the U.S. Journal testing showed that dozens of spots registered lead levels exceeding EPA safety guidelines.
“Without EPA intervention, we expect that the risk posed by the cables will increase as they further deteriorate and release lead into the environment,” according to the letter by the three nonprofit organizations, the Environmental Defense Fund, Clean Water Action and Below the Blue.
The Journal used testing including isotopic analyses and control sampling to confirm that the contaminating lead in some locations most likely came from the cables. Below the Blue’s co-founders, who also work at Marine Taxonomic Services, helped the Journal with environmental sampling for its investigation.
The EPA and its administrator, Michael S. Regan, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Journal found lead leaching into soil directly underneath aerial lead cables, according to test results by independent accredited laboratories. The Journal identified about 250 aerial lead cables alongside streets and fields next to schools and bus stops. There are likely far more throughout the country.
“If still in use, they should be protected to prevent leaching and abrasion from the weather, marked as lead-sheathed, and taken out of service as soon as possible, followed by removal,” according to the letter, which was viewed by the Journal. “EPA should also ensure surface soil contaminated by the aerial cables is removed or permanently covered.”
Roughly 330 underwater cable locations identified by the Journal are in a “source water protection area,” according to an EPA review performed for the Journal.
The groups appealed to Regan to use the agency’s authority under the “Superfund” law and the Safe Drinking Water Act to investigate the findings.
In response to the Journal’s reporting, AT&T, Verizon and USTelecom, an industry group, said they don’t believe cables in their ownership are a public health hazard or a major contributor to environmental lead. They declined to provide a full accounting of the number of lead cables in their networks to the Journal. They said they would work together to address any concerns related to lead cables.
Under the EPA’s Superfund law, known as the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, the agency can compel or undertake major environmental cleanups in certain cases. The Safe Drinking Water Act allows the agency to take actions to protect health when informed of a contaminant “which is present in or is likely to enter a public water system or an underground source of drinking water” and may present “an imminent and substantial endangerment” to health.
Lead from cables and from junction boxes where cables are spliced is “accessible to the public from the ground with many near playgrounds, schools, child-care facilities, and greenways where inquisitive children may be exposed,” the letter said.
Following the Journal investigation, a Wall Street analyst estimated it could cost $59 billion to remove all the lead cables nationwide.
Noting the EPA’s limited resources, the groups urged the agency to tap telecom companies responsible for the most lead cables “to support the assessment and actions needed to protect the public from potential exposure.”
In a congressional hearing on Thursday, Rep. Patrick Ryan called on the EPA to compel a cleanup of any contamination caused by the cables. In the hearing, the New York Democrat cited a playground where the Journal found a lead cable leaching in Wappingers Falls, N.Y., which is in Ryan’s district.
“Does the EPA plan on compelling clean up action from these telecom companies?” Ryan asked Radhika Fox, assistant administrator for the EPA’s Office of Water.
Fox said the EPA is looking carefully at the information in the Journal articles and is “coordinating with the FCC [Federal Communications Commission] on this so we are happy to follow up in the coming weeks.”