A July 9, 2023, Wall Street Journal article said that “AT&T, Verizon and other telecom giants have left behind a sprawling network of cables covered in toxic lead that stretches across the U.S., under the water, in the soil and on poles overhead…As the lead degrades, it is ending up in places where Americans live, work and play.”
One of the locations where these lead-covered telco cables can be found is in the Passaic River, which flows through Paterson (which, according to the U.S. Census, is 62.6% Latino and 24.7% Black) and Passaic (73.4% Latino, 49.0% white and 7.6% Black) and into Newark Bay, which leads into the state’s largest city, Newark (48.2% Black and 36.8% Latino).
Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, New Jersey-based industries helped make the state a major powerhouse even as they discharged industrial waste into the Passaic River.
The Wall Street Journal conducted independent tests that found some sediment and soil lead levels measured 14.5 times the EPA threshold in areas where children play. “Doctors say that no amount of contact with lead is safe, whether ingested or inhaled, particularly for children’s physical and mental development,” the Journal noted.
“For many years, telecom companies have known about the lead-covered cables and the potential risks of exposure to their workers, according to documents and interviews with former employees. They were also aware that lead was potentially leaching into the environment, but haven’t meaningfully acted on potential health risks to the surrounding communities or made efforts to monitor the cables.”
