Scrap Metal Mania
Posted on: Monday, 21 July 2008, 03:00 CDT
By Darst, Paul
It used to be no big deal for Joe Pettey to leave his oil rig equipment out in the field overnight or for the weekend.
That's always been part of the oil and natural gas business. But in recent years, the owner of Pettey Oilfield Services in Hamlin has had to make a few changes.
"I ended up fencing my whole yard," he said. "I put a chain link fence around all of it and put in security cameras."
Since the prices paid for scrap metal increased about two years ago, thieves have targeted those in the oil and natural gas, contracting and mining industries and numerous others. Some industries estimate the problem costs them nearly $2 million per year.
No Industry Is Safe
Hardly a day goes by without another news report of somebody stealing copper or other metals. WOWK-TV reported June 17 that two men were arrested in Wayne County and charged with trying to steal 200 feet of phone line. On March 12, the Bluefield Daily Telegraph reported that thieves in McDowell County were targeting copper in houses damaged by floods in 2002.
It's a problem that has grown the past few years, and it's costing business and industry a lot of money.
"We started seeing it increase in 2005 or 2006," said Phil Moye, spokesman for American Electric Power Co. Inc. "It coincides with the price of copper increasing. We've had copper in our facilities for decades ... and we never had a problem with it until recently. It's not letting up. It happens almost on a daily basis -- at least weekly."
The problem has gotten so bad for AEP that the company now has a special crew that does nothing but repair damage caused by copper thieves, Moye said. The crew targets not only AEP's electrical substations, but the distribution lines themselves.
Verizon West Virginia is in a similar situation, spokesman Harry Mitchell said.
"It has definitely been an issue for us," he said. "... The frequency has increased."
Thieves mostly are interested in Verizon's copper cable, but some other electrical equipment has been stolen, too, Mitchell said. Today, the company uses a lot of fiber optic lines, which contain thin glass fibers rather than copper. But the company still has a lot of copper line that attracts thieves.
The rash of thefts also has affected the contracting industry, said Mike Clowser, executive director of the Contractors Association of West Virginia. He pointed out an incident recently in Charleston, where thieves went after 72 power poles that had been wired for lights.
"They stole all the copper wire," he said. "The poles are 200 feet apart, so that was a lot of wire."
They also broke into locked fuse boxes on the poles, Clowser said. The estimated loss of the material is $16,000.
And there are plenty more stories just like that one, he said. In Mercer County, a contractor working on a school lost $150,000 in switch gear during the June 14 weekend. And at a job site in southern West Virginia, thieves stole 1,000 feet of heavy-duty wire from an electrical contractor. The total loss is about $12,000.
The mining industry also is among the hardest hit by the wave of thefts, said James Nagle, who operates the Web site MineTheft.com.
"I don't know if it's getting worse or not, but it's bad the way it is," he said.
Thieves are targeting both abandoned and active mines, he said. Often the perpetrators walk into the mine site during the day and take what they can.
"They just act like they're employees," Nagle said.
Sometimes those who steal from mines are contractors hired to do work there, he said.
Quite often, purloiners are brazen, said Charlie Burd, executive director of the Independent Oil and Gas Association of West Virginia.
"I've heard of them jacking up trucks and stealing the tires and rims off of them," he said.
Soaring Prices
The genesis of the problem is the tremendous increase in the worldwide demand for metal, said Greg Sayre, executive director of the Professional Recyclers Association of West Virginia. Much of that increased demand is because of growth taking place around the world.
"It's not just China and India," he said. "It's also happening in Turkey."
Thieves aroused by the high price of metal are targeting businesses around the state, but business also can benefit, Sayre said. Many of them sell their scrap metal to dealers and receive those higher prices themselves.
"There are pluses and minuses," he said.
One big minus is that the price increases are on both ends of the market, Clowser said. Not only are scrap dealers paying well for metal, but those buying metal materials are paying more, too. So replacing stolen metal costs more, he said.
"Construction material prices are way up anyway," he said. "... When you've got to pay for it once, it's expensive enough."
Risky Business
Burglars are getting paid more for the scrap metal they steal, but is it worth it? Not when you consider the danger involved, said Moye, who pointed out that three people already have been killed in the southern part of the state so far this year.
"If they break into a substation, they might end up with 50 or 100 pounds of wire," he said. "It's thick wire. It's not like what you use in a house. ... If they're successful, they might get $200 worth of copper wire."
That's not much when you consider that. Substations have 138,000 or more volts and distribution lines carry between 7,000 and 12,000 volts, Moye said.
"With the 120 volts in a house, you can be electrocuted, so this type of voltage, if you get in and make contact with it, very likely is going to kill you."
In addition to the voltage danger, those who try to cut down power lines also could fall to their deaths, Moye said.
Those who attempt to take metal from abandoned mines face a totally different kind of danger, Nagle said. Several people have gotten lost in old mines while attempting to do so. That puts not only their lives in danger, but also the lives of rescuers.
Abandoned mines are especially dangerous because they have been unattended for a period of time, he said.
But it's not just the thieves who face danger, Mitchell said.
"It's a public safety issue," he said. "Cell (phone) service is not good in some areas of the state. ... Those customers don't have that as an option to dial 911."
When telephone lines are stolen, it takes Verizon technicians time to locate the problem, get the new line to that location and install it, Mitchell said. Phones can be out for extended periods of time, leaving customers not only inconvenienced but also in potential danger.
Power outages are equally dangerous, Moye said.
"At the very least it's an inconvenience for the customer," he said. "In extreme weather situations, it could be dangerous."
As with telephone service, electrical outages can take long periods of time to fix, Moye said.
Combating the Problem
Affected industries have taken various steps to curb metal thefts, but their approach has been trial and error, Moye said.
"This is uncharted water for us," he said. "We've had copper in our equipment since we started building electrical facilities 100 years ago. Until three or four years ago, this was never a problem."
AEP has installed new security devices and hired local off-duty police officers to patrol theft-prone areas, Moye said. Like several others, the company has launched a public awareness campaign to warn would-be thieves of the danger.
And there are the rewards. Verizon recently started offering $10,000 for information leading to the arrest and successful prosecution of copper thieves in Wayne County, Mitchell said.
Some of the mine companies that post on MineTheft.com also offer rewards. IOGA has had a rewards program for several years, said Pettey, who will become the organization's president in July.
The options for securing remote work sites are expensive, Burd said.
"The only thing we can do is hire security," he said. "That's manpower intensive."
Although hiring security guards is expensive, it could be well worth it to some, Burd said.
"(Thefts) are expensive to the point that some may consider cutting their losses and putting in security," he said.
Another way to fight the problem would be to take steps to ensure those who are arrested for metal theft are prosecuted and punished for their crimes, Sayre said.
"I think the penalties are fine," he said. "I think (some officials) are just concerned that the jails are full, and they don't consider stealing copper to be a serious crime."
Costs to Consumers
And it's not just companies that are paying the price. When thieves steal equipment or material from a construction site, they could very well be stealing from taxpayers, Clowser said.
"It hurts," he said. "The contractors are responsible for the project until it's finished."
Metal thefts also hurt utility customers, even though those companies must gain the approval of the state Public Service Commission before raising their rates, Mitchell said.
"We haven't had a rate increase in a number of years," he said. "This is what it does do: We have a budget to live under. It takes money that could have been spent elsewhere."
So metal theft can delay equipment and line upgrades, which would improve service to state residents, Mitchell said.
"It has a ripple effect," he said.
Copyright State Journal Corporation Jun 20, 2008
(c) 2008 State Journal, The. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.
Source: State Journal, The
User Comments (0)
RSS Feeds