EL DORADO COUNTY, Calif. – Project partners are returning to Baldwin Beach this upcoming fall to tackle the final phase of lead cable removal, pulling out the last 75 feet of the nearly 100 year old cable system. It’s the final leg of removal after a barge crew pulled around eight miles of cable from Lake Tahoe’s depths in November.

The remaining length of cable runs from the sand on Baldwin Beach, and into the land. Depending on the water level, the capped and enclosed end can be underwater. It marks where the project’s first phase stopped and the second phase will begin.

The project required two different permits, which necessitated the two-part removal. The USDA Forest Service is the lead permitting agency on this final phase at Baldwin Beach.

Removal is currently scheduled for September or October. It was originally announced for spring 2025.

According to the Forest Service’s Special Uses/Lands Program Manager, Karen Kuentz, the fall removal allows time for botanists to adequately survey the California endangered Tahoe yellow cress and to minimally impact the recreating public.

Due to Lake Tahoe’s high level this year, Forest Service botanist, Emma Williams, explained the agency needs to wait until the fall, which is when the lake is at its low point, to be able detect as many Tahoe yellow cress plants as possible.

The service will survey for Tahoe yellow cress plants in early September and transplant any plants that are found. If no plants are found at that time, the service will monitor for underground shoots during the cable removal and will transplant them into existing Tahoe yellow cress enclosures to protect them.

The cables were installed in 1929 to provide Sierra Pacific Power’s telecommunications service. Around 2006, the cables were abandoned as AT&T installed a new fiber optic cable.

The cables again gained attention when divers from Marine Taxonomic Services discovered a cable in 2011. In 2020, the divers behind the cable re-discovery pushed for removal.

In the years that followed, debate, studies, communications and a lawsuit weighed the toxicity, ownership and responsibility of the cables. However, the ultimate consensus from organizations, grassroots efforts and the public was to simply get the lead cables out.

The lawsuit involved the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance suing AT&T. The parties reached a settlement in 2021 wherein AT&T didn’t admit wrongdoing, but agreed to remove the cables at a cost of up to $1.5 million.

In 2023, AT&T halted cable removal efforts after media reports questioned the safety of the cables and conducted studies on the litigation and media claims. AT&T announced the resumption of removal efforts in September 2024, following the publication of their studies that deemed cables did not pose any risk to human health or the environment.

In November 2024, AT&T hired specialty marine contractor, J.F. Brennan Company, which used barges to winch and remove the underwater cables from Lake Tahoe. The cables were cut into segments and transported out of the Tahoe Basin to be recycled. The company completed the work in just under three weeks while water quality experts performed water testing.

The League to Save Lake Tahoe assisted the effort by funding an underwater survey of the cables, contacting local, state, and federal agencies to help secure permits and approvals for the cable removal, including the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, Lahontan Water Quality Control Board, California State Parks, California State Lands Commission, USDA Forest Service and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The non-profit, known for its slogan, “Keep Tahoe Blue,” also secured a staging area for the operation’s equipment at the Tahoe Keys Marina.

The Tribune will provide updates on the final leg of removal as events unfold.