Saturday, September 22, 2007
Thieves target copper pipes, wiring
By Loretta Sorensen, Journal correspondent
VERMILLION, S.D. -- A unique
kind of darkness has been invading rural areas in recent
months: urban mining.
Thieves, who generally perpetrate their crimes under
cover of darkness, have been stripping isolated farm
places and sometimes homes in small towns of copper wire
which they sell to area scrap metal dealers.
Concerns are mounting that thieves are not only risking
their lives and causing thousands of dollars of damage to
homes and businesses, but they also are endangering the
lives of others.
The recent death of Earl Thelander, an 80-year-old Onawa,
Iowa, man, who died from injuries suffered in an
explosion that followed the removal of copper gas pipes
coming into a house he owned validates those concerns.
"There's a reward for anyone who can provide information
about who did this," said Jody Ewing, Thelander's
stepdaughter. "I never heard of urban mining before this
happened. It's so senseless."
Leo Powell, operations manager for Clay-Union Electric
Co-op at Vermillion, wonders if thieves in southeast
South Dakota have at least some knowledge of how
electrical power works.
"They're putting themselves in some very dangerous
situations in order to steal the wire, things a trained
electrician wouldn't do because it's so unsafe" Powell
said. "It makes me wonder if they actually worked for a
power company. They either know what they're doing and
taking the risk anyway, or they're mighty lucky."
Powell cited the instance of a Kansas man who broke into
a substation and was electrocuted because of his lack of
knowledge about how electrical lines work.
"He was cutting ground wires off inside the substation
and he was killed," Powell said. "Some of the situations
we've found, it's hard to believe people would be that
lucky. They almost have to know how electricity flows
through the lines."
Powell recommended that farmers be cautious if they find
an isolated farmstead suddenly without power. In some
cases, thieves leave dangerous situations behind when
they dismantle electric poles and transformers.
It's been about eight years since copper theft was an
issue in southeast South Dakota. Rising copper prices
drove the thefts then, just as they are now.
"Copper sells for about $3 a pound," Powell said. "To put
that into perspective, we paid about $900 for a
transformer last year at this time. Now we're paying
$1,500."
It's not uncommon for thieves to steal as much as
half-a-mile of copper wire.
In some cities, they steal copper elements from air
conditioners. They begin at the end of a block and steal
the same components from every homeowner on the block.
Their actions don't net them large sums of money;
however, the damage they cause can run into thousands of
dollars for homeowners and businesses.
"Scrap buyers in South Dakota are required to obtain a
signature from sellers declaring that the wire they're
selling isn't stolen," Powell said. "Law enforcement is
doing all it can to monitor homes and businesses, too.
People should just be cautious if they find a situation
where their power is suddenly out."
© Copyright 2007, Sioux City Journal
