I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
It should come as no surprise to hear the latest target of thieves. It’s not copper wire or bronze statues or vegetable grease with which to make biodiesel. No, now they’re targeting solar panels.
The New York Times reports today that thefts of the expensive photovoltaic panels are rising throughout California. A spokesman for the Albuquerque Police Department says the plague hasn’t yet reached the Duke City, but that it’s only a matter of time before thieves in New Mexico catch on.
“I’m sure if it’s hitting out there, it’s heading here,” APD’s John Walsh told the Independent.
The Times and other news outlets said panels have been stolen off roadside signs, churches, schools, businesses and homes. And it’s not small change. One man reported losing 58 panels worth $75,000 from a half-vacant office building in Santa Rosa, Calif.
“Investigators do not believe the thieves are acting out of concern for their carbon footprints,” Times reporter Kate Galbraith wrote. “Rather, authorities assume that many panels make their way to unwitting homeowners, sometimes via the Internet.”
The Bay Area News Group outside San Francisco reported in late August that authorities there are mystified by the growing number of thefts. It takes skill to dismantle the panels without wrecking them, and they have no value as scrap metal, said Sue Kateley, executive director of the California Solar Energy Industries Association. She wondered if the panels are being used by marijuana growers.
APD hasn’t received reports about stolen solar panels yet, but Walsh said it wouldn’t surprise him if the thievery started soon. “Whenever there’s a market, there’s a black market,” he said.
Down in New Mexico’s sun country, the Doña Ana County Sheriff’s Office also reports no missing photovoltaics. “It could be because we don’t have a lot” of solar-assisted homes and offices like they do in California, said Lt. David Fernandez. “New Mexico is usually 10 years behind the rest of the country.”
California cops have tracked some of the stolen material to Craigslist, the online classified ad site. They also cautioned solar panel owners to check their security and inscribe some identifying mark on the panels if possible.
The man who lost half his panels in Santa Rosa, Ken Martin Jr., told the Times he may paint the remaining panels bright pink. “At least if someone comes across them and they’re painted, they’ll know that’s my color.”
