Settlement: Old toxic cables to be removed from Lake Tahoe

By SCOTT SONNER
Associated Press

RENO, Nev. (AP) — AT&T’s Pac Bell subsidiary has settled a lawsuit at Lake Tahoe over 8 miles of toxic telephone cables that were abandoned on the lake bottom of the lake decades ago. A consent decree approved by a federal judge in Sacramento settles the suit the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance filed in January under a U.S. law typically cited in Superfund cases. It also alleged violations of California water quality standards. Pac Bell has agreed to spend up to $1.5 million to remove the cables. The suit said they’ve been leaking lead into the alpine lake on the California-Nevada line since they were abandoned in the 1980s. AT&T says water samples did not detect any release of lead in Lake Tahoe and disputes the cables were a source of pollution.