"For several years, Southern West Virginia has suffered an upsurge of metal-stealing. Thieves strip utility poles, power stations, vacant mines, shutdown plants, etc. -- mostly to get valuable copper to resell to scrap dealers."
"Trying to steal power lines can be deadly. Just this year, four West Virginians have been electrocuted during alleged thefts. The robberies sometimes knock out electrical or telephone service for neighborhoods."
"Even the 400-pound Fernbank School bell was stolen from a South Hills memorial and broken up for scrap."
"Frontier Communications, which purchased Verizon's telephone network, says the Mountain State has a horrible rate of copper wire theft. Nowhere else "even comes close to what is happening in West Virginia," security chief Lynne Monaco said."
This seems like a simple problem to resolve -- yet it remains a problem. There is no market if there is no buyer. Greater control of buyer market access could control this problem; remove cash from transactions, and require an electronic trail for starters.
