By
Daniel Scarpinato
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Weekend damage leads to extra guarding and continuing repairs
Precautions are being taken to prevent further destruction to the construction site for UA's Mount Graham International Observatory power line, after vandals caused more than $100,000 in damage during the weekend.
Deputy Rose Lacey from the Mount Graham Sheriff's office said that a deputy is patrolling the construction area several times a day.
"Security in the area has been escalated," Lacey said. "The construction company has hired a security person for all hours."
Buddy Powell, associate director of the University of Arizona's Steward Observatory, said that although initial estimates of the damage were as high as $200,000, officials believe there will be few delays in the construction.
"Things are being repaired," he said. "We really only lost one day of production."
Damage was assessed Tuesday, and by Wednesday workers were repairing and replacing equipment, Powell said.
The vandals used sledgehammers and crowbars to damage construction vehicles and equipment, and they also cut a power line providing electricity to the observatory.
Powell said that environmentalists and other groups who oppose the observatory have made previous threats.
"While it is unclear at this time who the vandals are, observatory opponents in the past have said they will resort to acts such as this to stop this project," he said.
Powell pointed to what he considers threats made by Robin Silver, a Phoenix physician and member of the Mount Graham Coalition, a group strongly opposed to the power line.
"There will be problems along that corridor forever because it will be impossible to defend," Silver told The Arizona Daily Star in January.
"Some of us continue to try to fight within the system, but the reality is that there are many that have given up," Silver added. "I would predict that the power line will never function for extended periods of time without difficulties."
The power line project, which has been in planning since 1984, will replace the diesel generators that are currently used to power the observatory.
Environmentalists believe that a three-mile stretch of the new power line will destroy the vegetation and natural habitats of the area.
Powell said that although he does not know who the vandals are at this time, they put workers' lives and the environment in danger by damaging vehicles.
"Diesel and hydraulic fuel lines were cut on equipment and the fluids drained into the ground," he said.
The $10 million power line project, which was approved by the U.S. Forest Service, extends underground for 23 miles and is scheduled to be completed by fall 2002.
The Graham County Sheriff's office would not release details concerning arrests or possible leads.
