Media Contacts: 
Faye I. Andersen, (775) 834-4822
Karl Walquist, (775) 834-4822

NV Energy has issued a plea to residents of western Churchill and northern Lyon counties to be on the look out for vandals who are shooting at the company's power lines and damaging insulators that attach the lines to the poles.

Company officials discovered the vandalism on a 60,000-volt line in a remote area about one-half mile west of the town of Hazen, between the Truckee Canal and Highway 50. Company crews have repaired the damage they recently found.

"Vandals don't realize how dangerous their actions can be to themselves and to other individuals,"said Area Service Manager Robert Kofoed. "Someone could be seriously injured or killed by these senseless acts. We take vandalism very seriously.  It is a matter of public safety and it is prohibited by federal law."

Kofoed said this type of vandalism is not just inconvenient for customers when outages occur, but can also be costly to repair and take company employees away from productive work to keep the supply of electricity flowing to customers. 

He noted that when criminal acts are committed against critical infrastructure like power lines and equipment, the company works with local and federal law enforcement agencies to track down and prosecute the culprits.

Kofoed encouraged anyone who sees suspicious activity around NV Energy's electric lines or facilities to call the company's 24-hour emergency number at 775-834-4100.  He also asks anyone seeing damaged electric equipment to immediately report it to the same emergency number.