Great River Energy offers reward in transmission line vandalism arrests
Elk River, Minn. (November 16, 2005) - Great River Energy is offering a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the individual or individuals responsible for vandalism to its transmission line near Lake Jessie Township, Minn., in Itasca County.
On November 11, it was discovered that insulators on two phases of the transmission line owned by Great River Energy were damaged by gunfire. The porcelain insulators hang from cross arms on the transmission poles and support the line conductors. As required by law, the incident was reported to local law enforcement agencies as well as to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Department of Energy.
The incident occurred at approximately 5 p.m. near the Bowstring Store on the east side of State Highway 6 in Jesse Lake Township. Approximately 12,000 local residents and visiting deer hunters were affected by this three hour 45 minute outage.
Law enforcement agencies have received numerous tips, but those responsible have not yet been brought to justice. Anyone who may have information related to the shootings is encouraged to contact the Itasca County Sheriff’s Department at (218) 326-3477, and the case number is 05011080.
Great River Energy reserves the sole right to determine eligibility for the reward, and to resolve any disputes arising over claims to the reward. Employees of the utility, and government agents and employees, are not eligible for the reward when acting in the scope of their employment.
Great River Energy ( www.greatriverenergy.com) is a generation and transmission cooperative providing wholesale electric energy and related services to 28 distribution cooperatives in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Great River Energy’s member North Itasca Electric Cooperative of Bigfork serves members in Northern Itasca, southern Koochiching and Eastern Beltrami counties.
