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AT&T United States The Internet

AT&T May Have Nearly 200,000 Miles of Lead-Covered Phone Cables Across US (arstechnica.com) 103

Posted by BeauHD from the this-could-get-messy dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: AT&T's legacy telephone network may have nearly 200,000 miles of lead-covered cables, according to an estimate by AT&T submitted in a court filing. "Based on its records, AT&T estimates that lead-clad cables represent less than 10 percent of its copper footprint of roughly two million sheath miles of cable, the overwhelming majority of which remains in active service," AT&T wrote in a court filing yesterday in US District Court for the Eastern District of California. "More than two thirds of its lead-clad cabling is either buried or in conduit, followed by aerial cable, and with a very small portion running underwater. There are varying costs of installation, maintenance, and removal by cable type (aerial, buried, buried in conduit, underwater)."

Reacting to the court filing, financial analyst firm Raymond James & Associates wrote in a research note, "AT&T is telling us that the total exposure is 200,000 route miles or less." With about two-thirds of the lead cables either buried or installed inside conduit, "We believe the implication for AT&T's data is that the route miles that should be addressed most immediately is about 3.3 percent (or less)," the analyst firm wrote. AT&T's new court filing came in a case filed against AT&T subsidiary Pacific Bell by the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA) in January 2021. The sportfishing group sued AT&T over cables that are allegedly "damaged and discharging lead into Lake Tahoe."

The two underwater cables run along the bottom of the western side of Lake Tahoe for a total of eight miles. AT&T "contends that it stopped using the Cables in or around the 1980s or earlier, that the Easements therefore have terminated, and that Defendant no longer owns the Cables," according to a November 2021 settlement. AT&T agreed in that settlement to remove the cables but now says it is at an "impasse" with the CSPA regarding removal. "In this matter, AT&T has always maintained that its lead-clad telecommunications cables pose no danger to those who work and play in the waters of Lake Tahoe, but in 2021, AT&T agreed to remove them simply to avoid the expense of litigation," an AT&T lawyer at the firm Paul Hastings wrote yesterday in a letter to the plaintiff that was attached to the court filing. [...]

AT&T's stance that it won't remove the Lake Tahoe cables any time soon is apparently a surprise to the plaintiff. The CSPA said in a court filing last week that in a Zoom meeting on July 10, "AT&T confirmed that it is prepared to commence the removal process on September 6, 2023, as long as the new permit request that AT&T submitted to State Parks in May is approved by State Park." AT&T's filing said the company never "confirmed" that it is prepared to start the cable removal process on September 6. The CSPA argues that the lead-covered cables "have leached, are leaching, and will continue to leach lead into the waters of Lake Tahoe, and that such leaching may present an imminent and substantial endangerment to human health or the environment." Last week, the Wall Street Journal published an investigative report that found evidence of more than 2,000 lead-covered telephone cables installed across the U.S. Teleco stock prices plummeted as a result, since the remediation could cost the telecom industry $60 billion.

While members of Congress are putting pressure on telecom companies to act, AT&T does appear to be taking new actions as a result of the investigation. "AT&T is working with union partners to add a voluntary testing program for any employee who works with or has worked with lead-clad cables," which "expands on AT&T's previous practice of providing blood-lead testing for technicians involved in lead-clad cable removal," the company said in its letter to the plaintiff yesterday. AT&T said it is also conducting new testing and site visits at certain locations.

AT&T's stock slid to a 30-year low following the news.
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AT&T May Have Nearly 200,000 Miles of Lead-Covered Phone Cables Across US More

AT&T May Have Nearly 200,000 Miles of Lead-Covered Phone Cables Across US

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  • Evidence of contamination? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by DrMrLordX ( 559371 ) on Friday July 21, 2023 @09:10AM (#63704188)

    Has anyone shown measurable lead contamination in the environment around these lead-clad cable runs?

    • Re:Evidence of contamination? (Score:5, Informative)

      by ArchieBunker ( 132337 ) on Friday July 21, 2023 @09:19AM (#63704208)

      Yes, as a matter of fact. https://news.slashdot.org/stor... [slashdot.org]

      • The WSJ link in that article is paywalled. There is this quote from TFS:

        "WSJ reporters had researchers collect samples as part of their investigation. They "found that where lead contamination was present, the amount measured in the soil was highest directly under or next to the cables, and dropped within a few feet -- a sign the lead was coming from the cable," the article said

        But I am also curious on the absolute numbers of this lead contamination. Will it be worth it to dig up 1000's of miles of cab

        • The WSJ link in that article is paywalled.

          Free WSJ link:
          https://www.wsj.com/articles/l... [wsj.com]

        • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

          by mspohr ( 589790 )

          This is fine other than brain damage caused by lead.
          Our alpine lake has old ATT lead cables left in the water leaching lead contamination.
          ATT says they won't be removing them.

          • Are your lake lead levels high enough to cause brain damage?

            Most people haven't seen charts of heavy metals in produce.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by mspohr ( 589790 )

              Lead poisoning occurs when lead builds up in the body, often over months or years. Even small amounts of lead can cause serious health problems. Children younger than 6 years are especially vulnerable to lead poisoning, which can severely affect mental and physical development. At very high levels, lead poisoning can be fatal.

              Lead-based paint and lead-contaminated dust in older buildings are common sources of lead poisoning in children. Other sources include contaminated air, water and soil. Adults who work

          • This is fine other than brain damage caused by lead.

            I thought that was caused by using AT&T -- learn something new everyday... :-)

        • Re:Evidence of contamination? (Score:4, Interesting)

          by Firethorn ( 177587 ) on Friday July 21, 2023 @11:25AM (#63704578) Homepage Journal

          I'm actually hesitant to fine them for something that was perfectly legal when they did it. And while I'm a big believer in the leaded gasoline->crime theory, on the scale of things, leaded gasoline is a lot more dangerous because it's an inhalation hazard, then lead paint because kids can eat the chips, but this is apparently restricted to just around the cable, probably a couple feet down. We also don't know the levels.

          So yeah, not something to be allowing in installs now, but as you said, is it worth the extra exposure people will get from disturbing it, outside of specific situations. Something like "replace when found"?

          • Re:Evidence of contamination? (Score:4, Insightful)

            by Amouth ( 879122 ) on Friday July 21, 2023 @12:02PM (#63704722)

            agreed - this seems like a money grab at a corporation - i can assure you that in any body of water that has a telcom cable with lead cladding - there is significantly more lead in that body of water from lost fishing weights! it wasn't till the early 2000s that states started banning the use of Lead in fishing weights, and there are a lot of tackle for sale even now that is made of lead....

            Finding lead leaching out is important to know - but actual PPM maters for quantifying the actual risk profile..

          • Re: (Score:1, Insightful)

            by Anonymous Coward
            No. Paint and gasoline were not allowed to continue to be sold after legislation outlawing lead use. Why should telcos be allowed to leave their cables in place?

            • Actually, you can still buy leaded gasoline today. LL100. Existing stocks of leaded paint were allowed to be sold and used. It was just you couldn't sell new production for residential use. Hell, it's still legal for select professional uses.

              It's rather traditional to grandfather this sort of stuff. As for the reason they'd be allowed to leave it in place, I already said that: Disturbing it will cause more problems than it solves, unless you're going in there to fix stuff anyways. THEN you replace it

          • Even if what AT&T did was technically legal which, yes, should exempt them from criminal punishment; lead's toxicity has been known literally for thousands of years (Discovered in the 2nd century BC by the Greeks.). Dumping it into the environment by any means is still reckless and negligent. And AT&T should still be on the hook for Every... Single... Red... Cent of the cost to remove it... ALL of it... and to repair any damage to the environment, wildlife, people, property, or community. The onl

            • So how mad are you going to be when the government gives ATT and friends money to clean up the mess? Probably on numerous occasions, much like our efforts to get broadband to the sticks. We'll keep paying, they'll "promise" and in another decade we'll pay them again for the same promise.

            • Good luck? Because the end result of this is that AT&T declares bankruptcy, and now NOBODY is responsible for the cables. You might end up with millions of people without telecom services, if nobody is willing to auction the infrastructure in question.

              That's the result of policies like this in general. And worse, it doesn't hit the original offenders, because they're all dead/retired.

              And here's the deal - removing it will quite likely damage the environment, property, people, and such MORE than leavi

        • But I am also curious on the absolute numbers of this lead contamination. Will it be worth it to dig up 1000's of miles of cables, both in money, and in creating more of a problem (disturbing the soil) to solve for something that while over a designated limit is still not a real danger to people or the environment.

          This is the real question. We had asbestos in our attic, which we just got removed due to attic insulation work. Had we not done the attic work, the asbestos was embedded in material that would have posed no danger unless that material was scraped or damaged.

          How much of the lead around the telco cables is leaching into the environment? This doesn't seem like a hard problem to at least sample. In fact, it shouldn't even take any sampling. Municipal water is already tested for lead. What do those levels

          • How much of the lead around the telco cables is leaching into the environment?

            We regularly find, in an archaeological context, lead foils and thin sheets which were engraved with curses ("Gods inflict boils on the guy who stole my donkey!", that sort of thing) before being cast into natural hot springs, graves, river crossings, .... all sorts of places.

            Which in this context translates to "lead foil in the soil can last thousands of years, easily". IT's quite insoluble as the element.

            That doesn't make it "

        • the amount measured in the soil was highest directly under or next to the cables, and dropped within a few feet -- a sign the lead was coming from the cable," the article said

          Precisely the same data also strongly indicates that the lead has low mobility in it's buried environment.

          If the lead were a mobile element, then it's concentration 1 unit away from the putative source would be similar to it's concentration 2 units away, 5 units, 10 units Though a similar profile could also indicate a high natural b

      • Which is from rainwater, the pH of which varies wildly, especially with birds shitting on the cables, thus causing the leaching. Unfortunately the only study I was able to find the pH of the water of in Lake Tahoe itself(Sampling in the human inhabited areas I discounted, though these too were well above 7) was over 50 years old. However, the pH was above 7.4 in all lake measurements, even to a depth of 460 meters. Elemental lead in a non-acidic environment tends to be stable.

        • I want to know how a wire bundle sheaf sitting in a ground undisturbed for a century is worse than digging, pulling and bending it. Lead forms an oxide on its surface when in contact with multiple elements found in soil to become more inert to bases. Acids are a problem, but soils outside of some very strange conditions are basic. The mass of the bundels, Copper is not of a price in the past 3 decades anyone really wants to recover it if a permit is involved. If it is scrap to be picked off the gr

        • > especially with birds shitting on the cables

          Excellent point.

          For the same reason measure the pH of the organic muck on the lakebed rather than the open water.

      • Contamination, yes.
        "WSJ reporters had researchers collect samples as part of their investigation. They "found that where lead contamination was present, the amount measured in the soil was highest directly under or next to the cables, and dropped within a few feet -- a sign the lead was coming from the cable"

        I don't have a WSJ account, does anything in that report indicate what the lead levels found WERE?

        Lead occurs naturally in 50-400ppm levels quite widely in the environment.
        In water it's considered ok at

    • You are going against "the science" Good lord people...the cables are COVERED in a protective wrap of PLASTIC. Leave them alone. Heck, around here, if the copper nuts that steal anything that looks like it is made of copper, knew the trunk lines on the utility poles are basically unused, they'd steal every one of them. Talked with an AT&T guy a couple years ago he said most of the copper phone lines aren't used any more, but a few still have alarm systems connected for people that haven't updated, and a

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by G00F ( 241765 )

      The action of removal will present more lead contamination than leaving it alone.

      • A huge complex problem. Removal will take a long time and should be prioritized. Locations where disturbance could be worse should be considered. Remove what is most dangerous and implement plans to minimize exposure from existing. Detectors and maps. Workers need protection.

  • They Do (Score:3)

    by Revek ( 133289 ) on Friday July 21, 2023 @09:13AM (#63704192)
    Its everywhere in the town where I am currently working. What's worse from a IT standpoint is that the bundles pairs are often mismatched for size from bundle to bundle which causes all kinds of problems trying to get reliable DSL for many businesses.

    • But, aren't there fixes for that on the DSLAM specifically on the line side?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by tsnow ( 3732101 )
        Not really, no. Typically, those bundles will come into a frame and either first go through a lightning protector block or directly to a frame block, and then from there they are attached to the DSLAM via amphenol D-50 connectors. The best you can try to do for this kind of situation is bonding a pair physically to try and make up for the size difference, but unless done right, can actually make things worse. The other option would be bonding two pairs logically and using a bonded modem, but I've typically

    • Yes! Unreliable DSL is a terrible problem. Lead contamination pales in comparison.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Revek ( 133289 )
        Yes, from an environmental stand point.

        • Sure. Unreliable DSL is an environmental problem. My home environment was diminished by my lame DSL service. That is long gone, now I have eco-friendly cable service, soon to be replaced by even more eco-friendly optical fiber...

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Revek ( 133289 )
            Whooohooo you gonna get fiber! Hey every body this guy is getting fiber.
            I am talking about it from a IT standpoint and you are talking about it from an environmental one.
            My comment was an aside to the environmental problem with it being everywhere. An addition to how bad it is from both stand points.

            • Since this thread started out as a discussion of the environmental consequences of lead sheath cable around the country, focusing on the environmental aspects makes all the sense in the world. Ain't nobody talking about twisted pair or POTS service anymore, that's a whole another world of limited and legacy uses. It's not about quality of service. It's not about the technology per se. It's not about the IT ramifications, they're all complaining about lead buried in the ground. And maybe the stuff in the air

      • Do you think telehealth can save lives?

        People who want DSL have dialup as their other option.

        • Generalization. Starlink is building out well, competitors in the LEO satellite service are coming, and DSL candidates most often have cable available. In the Phoenix area we see multiple fiber alternatives building.

          Broadband access is a terrestrial issue. Rural areas are about to get another broken promise with billions sent to the incumbents to do what was promised in 2009, and before that even.

          Access is possible for virtually anyone in the US, it is cost that differentiates.

  • Yeah. And? (Score:3)

    by RightwingNutjob ( 1302813 ) on Friday July 21, 2023 @09:20AM (#63704212)

    Lawyering in a court of law or a court of public opinions isn't going to do anything about that lead.

    Nor will extracting damage$ on behalf of some possibly fictional victim of these lead sheathed cables.

    • The handling and exposure to actually extract, replace and dispose of the cable will likely be significantly more hazardous to those required to do the work than the potential impact to the environment which is limited to soil within a foot or so of the cables at most and is only at a level that would have negligible impact to the environment as a whole and is similar to the replacements cables made from copper and aluminium.

      • *Citation needed.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by mspohr ( 589790 )

        The ATT lead cables in our alpine lake are under water. Lead contamination spreads to the entire body of water and into drinking water. Lead causes brain damage.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by ksw_92 ( 5249207 )

          As someone who deals with a lot of telcomm services from various providers, let me simplify and make more accurate your statement: ATT causes brain damage.

        • What's the ppm of lead contamination in the lake? How much worse is it going to get from leaving the cable there, and how much worse will it get from disturbing the cable during removal?

          What was the ppm of lead contamination before installation of the cable?

          Not saying you're wrong per se, but removal of the cable might not be the safest course of action.

          • No safe level of lead.
            How is leaving lead in place where it will continue to leach into water better than removing it?

            • The action level for drinking water is usually 15ppb in more than 10% of samples. If it isn't drinking water then natural sources of lead can push it higher without any relevant agency taking action. Plus there could be other man made contamination.

              It would help to know what additional contamination stems from the lead-clad cabling.

              Furthermore, that cable probably won't leech forever. It may have already reached chemical equilibrium with the environment to the point that it is now coated in a stable oxide

              • Yeah, so rodents, floods, earthquakes, digging for an independent reason, children playing, other animals etc. will NEVER disturb the existing homeostasis ?

                Not to mention disturbances in the air, causing acid rain, again further leaching the lead into the environment. NEVER is a long time.

        • Lead contamination spreads to the entire body of water and into drinking water.

          Testing for this is simple, so you must have actual numbers. I'll wait...

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mspohr ( 589790 )

      Lawyering is what forces ATT to get rid of the cables.

      • "Getting rid of those cables" may cause more contamination than letting them be. Per last week's wsj article on the subject.

        Lawyering just lines lawyers' pockets.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by mspohr ( 589790 )

          ATT won't do anything unless they are forced to by government or lawyers. They have a duty to their shareholders to screw the public to make more money.
          Only the WSJ could come up with the logic that removing the lead causes more contamination.

          • Only a treehugging stoner can fail to understand that digging up and manhandling something can cause it to release its contaminants more than not digging it up and manhandling it.

  • I'm wondering why they used lead in the first place? For EMI shielding or maybe environmental protection?

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by caseih ( 160668 )

      All this was gone into a few days ago when the original story was posted to slashdot:

      https://news.slashdot.org/comm... [slashdot.org]

      • My post "Industrial history" on that article gives a link to archived 1932 and 1936 Bell System Technical Journal articles that explain both internal insulation (PIC: pulp insulated cable) and lead sheathing. The answer essentially is: extrudable and durable sheathing material that excludes water, and can be repaired. We did not yet have plastic insulation.

    • Re:Lead (Score:4, Informative)

      by guruevi ( 827432 ) on Friday July 21, 2023 @10:56AM (#63704476)

      Because lead is one of the few things that works in those environments, it doesn’t leach like plastics and oils do, it doesn’t rust like steel or other metals do, it can handle different pH levels in the soil without needing to replace every so often.

      Lead is useful, yes, it contaminates the soil around it, but the leaching from lead into the environment is very slow over time (hence why we use it, because other metals and plastics degrade much quicker) but unless you EAT the dirt, you aren’t in any danger of lead poisoning (at which point you will probably have a ton of other health issues like tetanus, anthrax, valley fever or botulism).

      • Rats, no mod points. Oh well, yes metallic lead protects the wires inside the bundle very well. If some does corrode it doesn't go far the the soil, as soon as the lead finds a sulfate or sulfide ion it grabs it and now it's dirt again.

        Lead dissolves in nitric acid, acetic acid, a little in citric acid, and in hot hydrochloric acid. Otherwise it pretty much just sits there. Oh, and fluorosilicic acid will dissolve it too.

      • but unless you EAT the dirt, you aren’t in any danger of lead poisoning (at which point you will probably have a ton of other health issues like tetanus, anthrax, valley fever or botulism).

        Let me see if I'm understanding this. Rain water leached lead from the cables to the soil. But the lead is going to stay in the soil and not propagate further?

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by caseih ( 160668 )

          Essentially correct. Though I don't think the rain water dissolves the lead. Iif it did, lead would leach very far into the dirt, which it does not appear to do. Rather it washes away some of the lead that is mechanically worn off the cables. Just like washing your hands after handling solder.

          The risk of contamination is probably much higher from digging up and removing of the lead-sheathed wires than if they are left alone, even abandoned. Also we don't know what long-term harm comes from the plastics t

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Tablizer ( 95088 )

        > but unless you EAT the dirt, you aren't in any danger of lead poisoning

        But I insist my enemies eat dirt all the time. Most act like they complied.

  • >>The sportfishing group sued AT&T over cables that are allegedly "damaged and discharging lead into Lake Tahoe."

    Would these be the same sportfishermen that used lead sinkers on their lines? Or go duck hunting and fire lead shot that lands in the lake?

  • Did taxpayers pay for that already..? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by geekmux ( 1040042 ) on Friday July 21, 2023 @09:49AM (#63704298)

    "AT&T estimates that lead-clad cables represent less than 10 percent of its copper footprint of roughly two million sheath miles of cable, the overwhelming majority of which remains in active service," AT&T wrote in a court filing yesterday..."

    And yet I wonder how much of that overwhelming majority was already paid for by taxpayers to be ripped out and replaced, a few Congressional Telecommunications Projects ago? Should we perhaps see if there's any documentation on that before ignorantly voting in favor of handing them millions more, or perhaps we call them on their claim of in use first?

    In our wireless era of cable-cutters who don't know how to even dial a landline phone, I have my doubts as to how many urgent-millions they really need, especially following the whole gotta-do-it-NOW spam scam playbook with the whole OMGWTF hype and panic with the lead and all...

  • ... "get the lead out," both literally and figuratively [dictionary.com] speaking.

  • What's the issue here? Don't eat the cables and you'll be fine. I did some small RTFM'ing and it looks like the contamination is a few feet around the cables. So what?

    • yeah it's not like some mythical water from the sky could carry lead into water table, where lead can bind with carbonates and then contaminate drinking water, right?

  • ATT wants to destroy the wired telephone network and force us all to go wireless, but there are still laws in place that force them to provide service
    I suspect that this is a sneaky, back-door strategy to allow them to remove and not replace the old cables, while claiming environmental justification
    The wired telephone network is one of the most reliable technological inventions in history and it will be a sad day when it is destroyed

    • It took a lot of maintenance to keep it reliable though. The reason I got a cell phone is because the phone company couldn't be bothered to keep the lines operating.

      • Yeah, in my experience, the POTS lines of decades ago were the most reliable, but these days cell phones edge out land lines in reliability. They have really, really dropped the ball.

    • The hot setup would be to start replacing their wired network with a fiber infrastructure. This still meets the requirements for providing a wired network, while giving a much needed boost in capacity and reliability.

      But who am I kidding?

      • There's no way they volunteer to do that without first getting a new $100B subsidy to do it. And even then they won't, just like they didn't with the last $100B subsidy they received for this kind of thing. Can't afford to do the actual work when you have executive bonuses and stock buybacks to pay for!

        • The government needs some kind of leverage. Like, you make a certain amount of progress in this time frame, or we cancel all exclusivity rights. And then provide regular milestones that must be met to retain exclusivity. We've tried the carrot, now we need to try the stick.

          • I couldn't agree more. If companies want taxpayer subsidies, then they need to deliver on what the taxpayers are giving them that money for. Contractual claw-backs, progress milestones, and if they don't deliver they get the money clawed back at the very least. If they're a cable operator that because reasons are not "common carriers" then an extra stick to beat them with would be that if they don't deliver, they BECOME common carriers and must open their networks.

            The government tit needs to have less su

      • The reason why this is of concern is that ATT no longer uses wires for backbones. Those days were LONG GONE back in the 90s. These cables have been sitting around doing ..... nothing.

        • In that case, yeah, they need to be pulled up. I suspect some of the cost could be mitigated by selling the copper.

          • If done right most of these clean-ups actually bring in money. For example:

            1) Nearly all of the dried up wells have useful properties. They can be used to mine other minerals that may be lurking down below. If in the right place with a lot of heat, they can be used for geothermal electricity. For others, as buildings encroach on them, they can be used for geothermal HVAC for buildings. So, most old wells can be turned into a new source of money.
            2) how about all of the coal power plants emissions contro
  • What about lead fishing weights? I lost a pound or more in snags over the years myself in lakes, rivers. Hunting bullets? Go after those manufactures as well?

    • On ammunition, it's already an issue, and there are lead free variants available now, either solid copper or steel core. I'm told that a side effect of this is the round more likely to strike sparks off rocks, which could potentially increase the chance of wildfires. But hey, no lead.

    • A lb. Wow.
      Hate to tell you this, but most new weights in America are no longer lead.
      Bullets are lead based, BBs and a number of pellets are available as non-lead.

      Regardless, the amount of lead from these pale against what ATT and other businesses have.
      • Well i see your not easily impressed, their were 55 million anglers in 2020 so my measly pound ya big deal. Sure nothing compared to ATT but not my point.

  • So I see a few possibilities -- (a) AT&T will lobby for an exception and that can gets kicked down the road, (b) AT&T is forced to replace the cables, and uses the opportunity to install a modern fiber infrastructure and drag the network kicking and screaming into the 20th century (that's not a misprint), (c) AT&T replaces the lead sheathed cable with a different kind of twisted pair, continuing to limit their customer base to 1.2 Mb DSL when all the rest of the world has gig fiber.

    I'm voting for a or c. I would bet large money that b never happens.

  • This is basic chemistry.

  • Even the ancient Greeks knew too much lead was bad. When were these cables laid? Who thought lead was a proper material to use in water? ATT is completely corrupt and incompetent. Short their stock and cut off the welfare checks.
  • Nuclear power pays a certain amount of kWh towards spent fuel fund as well as tearing down the power plant.
    America need to require that all businesses that are working in hazmat or putting anything on/in public land to put $ into a fund as they progress through sales.
    For example, each mine/oil well/gas station/utilities should be required to put into an individualized fund designed to close down the operation safely. For example, if ATT had contributed a .001/call to a fund to remove the cables when don

  • AT&T "contends that it stopped using the Cables in or around the 1980s or earlier, that the Easements therefore have terminated, and that Defendant no longer owns the Cables,"

    "Socialize the negative externalities, privatize the profits (hallowed be their names). Screw you, plebs."

    See also: The ongoing poisoning of Earth's biosphere with CO2.

  • Yet another duplicate post. AT&T appears to be dire need of a bailout.
  • Post a map of the lead covered cables along with a note "Please don't steal this lead to cast your own bullets." It's not like they give away tire balancing weights anymore. Actually, scrap lead is ~$1/pound, about like aluminum and zinc. It's not close to copper, but not all meth heads can afford to be choosy.
  • the people that know how to maintain these have retired.

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