AT&T Presses for Green Group’s Documents About Lead Cables in Lake Tahoe
AT&T seeks an order directing green group Below the Blue (BtB) to comply with a document subpoena about the lead content of legacy telecom cables on the floor of Lake Tahoe in California, said AT&T’s reply brief Thursday (docket 2:21-cv-00073)…
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in support of the order. AT&T filed its motion Sept. 26 to compel BtB’s production of the documents, and BtB’s opposition was due Oct. 13, but no opposition was filed, said AT&T. It asked the court to grant the unopposed motion. “A scheduling order is in place and discovery deadlines are fast approaching,” it said. AT&T’s Sept. 26 motion said BtB founder Seth Jones gave the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance all the evidence it needed to file suit against AT&T when he dove to the bottom of Lake Tahoe and retrieved a foot-long sample of cable, finding through later testing that it contained three pounds of lead. Given BtB’s “prominent role in the underlying dispute,” AT&T got the subpoena Aug. 4, asking BtB to produce all documents and communications about the sampling, testing and analysis performed on lead-clad telecom cables at Lake Tahoe and elsewhere. The alliance sued AT&T in January 2021 to enjoin the company from continuing to release lead into the waters of Lake Tahoe (see 2307200027). AT&T said it stands by its assertions that the cables at the bottom of Lake Tahoe pose no hazards to human health or the environment.