MARS HILL (AP) – Police are investigating the theft of $30,000 worth of copper wire at New England’s biggest commercial wind farm on Mars Hill Mountain.
UPC Wind Management LLC reported that the wire was stolen during the weekend from a turbine tower that was stored at the base of the mountain, said Maine State Police Trooper Chuck Michaud.
Fourteen wire cables, each about 160 feet long and 3 inches in diameter, were removed from a tower that was lying near the road, Michaud said.
The wire could have fit into the back of a big pickup truck if it had been cut up, the trooper said, but he was unsure if a truck could bear the weight of it.
Copper thefts have become “pretty rampant throughout the state” because of increasing copper prices, Michaud said.
Thieves in recent months have targeted Central Maine Power and Bangor Hydro-Electric substations, a Verizon facility and a Maine Eastern Railroad depot. They’ve taken copper from an antenna manufacturer and even ripped copper wire out of abandoned houses.
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Information from: Bangor Daily News, http://www.bangornews.com
AP-ES-09-27-06 1455EDT
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