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Copper Thieves Jeopardize US Infrastructure
coondoggie supplies an excerpt from Network World that might make you consider a lock for your pipes: "The FBI today ratcheted up the clamor to do something more substantive about the monumental growth of copper theft in the US. In a report issued today the FBI said the rising theft of the metal is threatening the critical infrastructure by targeting electrical substations, cellular towers, telephone land lines, railroads, water wells, construction sites, and vacant homes for lucrative profits. Copper thefts from these targets have increased since 2006; and they are currently disrupting the flow of electricity, telecommunications, transportation, water supply, heating, and security and emergency services, and present a risk to both public safety and national security." (A July, 2006 post on Ethan Zuckerman's blog gives an idea of how widespread cable theft has affected internet infrastructure, and basketmaking, in Africa.)
This is one problem I figured the current administration had fixed.
http://www.kitcometals.com/charts/copper_historical_large.html#6months
Tank the housing market, and copper isn't needed, the price falls, not worth steeling.
But thieves are apparently slow learners.
Yep. Copper prices have dropped considerably in the past few months:
http://www.metalprices.com/FreeSite/metals/cu/cu.asp
Just be sure to wear the gold uniform when you beam down -- you know what happens when you wear the red one.
We need more incidents like these.
The site was clearly labeled with electrical warning signs, yet the idiot still went ahead with attempting to steal the wiring. Long story short, he probably will pay a little more attention to signs...
In Chandler, AZ park lights have had the wire removed for miles. The problem is that it cannot be stopped by law enforcement, which means it pretty much cannot be stopped at all.
Someone sees some wire, they take the wire and get cash. Nobody wants to infringe upon the rights of the scrap dealers, so accepting of wire from just about anyone is going to continue. We now have people that in order to buy their next HD TV are ripping out the wires to street lights, homes, and anywhere else that wire can be obtained.
It is an easy way to get cash with very limited risks.
MOD parent up. In US urban areas, a lot of this activity is done by drug addicts. This is more of a sign of the break down in community vs. individualistic values than a sign of income disparities.
This report comes just as copper prices are plummeting due to the worldwide recession, which should reduce the problem significantly. Prices have dropped 60% since spring.
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I mean hea, our pennies are made of [copper] right?
Not really. Since 1982, US pennies have been 97.5% zinc, with a copper coating.
-kgj
I am an HVAC engineer and I have had $30,000 condensing units destroyed on construction projects for $200 worth of copper. I've seen LIVE power feeds ripped off of buildings. Something needs to get done. Unfortunately as the old saying goes, people are assholes.
I'm not not licking toads.
Research performed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories showed bullet lead analysis to be unreliable. Following this research, the FBI announced that it was no longer making use of the process.
You can never go home again... but I guess you can shop there.
I remember aluminum wire, and the fires. The chief problem was not that the "metal tends to flow" (that is just wrong). The problem was that aluminum had a significantly different coefficient of thermal expansion. One way of dealing with it was to tighten everything regularly (prohibitively expensive) or to just attach the wires with screws that had coefficients of thermal expansion compatible with aluminum.