SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – The lead-sheathed telecommunications cables in Lake Tahoe for decades have now been completely removed. After their discovery by divers with the environmental non-profit Below the Blue, it took years and collaboration between several groups to get to this milestone.
The League to Save Lake Tahoe announced the completion of cable removal on Thursday and said they are proud to have served as both environmental watchdog and partner to AT&T in the removal process. They partnered with local, state, and federal agencies to help secure permits and approvals for the cable removal.
Seth Jones, who founded Below the Blue with Monique Rydel Fortner, had been cleaning trash out of the lake during a break in their Asian clam removal project in Emerald Bay in 2012 when they came across the cables. In total, there were eight miles of leaded cable weighing approximately 150,000 pounds abandoned at the bottom of Lake Tahoe that has now been removed.
Jones traced the owner to PacBell (now AT&T). PacBell switched to fiber optic phone cables over 30 years ago and abandoned the old cables at the bottom of the lake. The cables contain approximately three pounds of lead per foot and extended along the western shore of Lake Tahoe from Baldwin Beach to Rubicon Bay, including across the mouth of Emerald Bay.
Jones, who owns Marine Taxonomic Services, contacted the non-profit California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA) who brought suit against AT&T under federal law and California’s Proposition 65 to get the cable removed. After a successful fight on the lawsuit, the permitting got underway.
“This is a major milestone for Lake Tahoe,” said the League to Save Lake Tahoe’s Chief Strategy Officer Jesse Patterson. “We are grateful that AT&T did the right thing for the Lake Tahoe environment and honored that the League could play an instrumental role to Keep Tahoe Blue for all.”
The cable removal project was carefully crafted with multiple layers of environmental safeguards and was conducted by AT&T’s specialty marine services contractor J.F. Brennan Company. The League was closely involved from the early planning stages to the actual removal work, both on and off the water, sharing its assistance and expertise. Additionally, a professional team of consultants, including divers, biologists, and archaeologists, helped ensure the cables were removed from the Lake bottom without disturbing water quality, aquatic life, or Tahoe’s natural setting. The removed cables are being transported out of the Tahoe Basin to be recycled.
There was also work done during this time to keep the cables and their removal at the forefront with petitions and public presentations by Evan Dreyer and the Tahoe Lead Removal Project.
“This is a great day for Tahoe, and the Tahoe Keys Marina is proud to have played our part,” said Katie Linton, general manager of the Tahoe Keys Marina, which provided the staging area for the removal equipment. “We worked hand in hand with the cable removal team, especially the League to Save Lake Tahoe who made sure all the operation’s complex moving parts fit together perfectly.”
This achievement is a testament to the importance of Lake Tahoe as one of the United States’ most unique natural resources, the second deepest lake in the country, and the third oldest lake in the world, said the League. The lake is an Outstanding National Resource Water, a rare federal designation that affords it the highest protection against degradation.