LAW HIKES AMMONIA THEFT PENALTIES

TULSA -- Farmers are hoping a new state law will reduce the number of
methamphetamine cooks creeping into fields at night to steal a toxic
ingredient. In the last five years, ranchers who use anhydrous ammonia
for fertilizer have noticed an increase in thefts of the chemical. The
oxygen-displacing gas is a common ingredient in methamphetamine.

Thieves pry valves off tanks and transfer the gas to a smaller
container, such as a portable propane tank, said Leon Francis, special
agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Francis, raised on a farm in Pottawatomie County, has smelled the
gas.

"I tell you what, it will put you on your pockets," he said.
"Suddenly, there's no air. It's kind of like being choked."

Until about five years ago, Oklahoma methamphetamine cooks were not
using anhydrous ammonia. The number of labs using the gas has jumped
30 percent to 40 percent in five years, Francis said.

Methamphetamine cooks call using anhydrous ammonia the "Nazi" method
because Germans, during World War II, used anhydrous ammonia to make
methamphetamine. Thieves have turned to this method because anhydrous
ammonia and another main ingredient -- lithium from camera batteries
- -- are easy to get, Francis said.

The new law sets a minimum criminal penalty for anyone who destroys or
attempts to destroy any hazardous liquid transportation system,
including anhydrous ammonia. House Bill 2074, sponsored by Rep. Larry
Rice, D-Pryor, goes into effect Nov. 1.

Violators will be fined up to $25,000 and imprisoned up to 15
years.

"It gives the prosecutors more weapons to work with," Francis said. "I
think it will be useful."

The law strengthens one passed in 2000 that makes theft of any amount
of anhydrous ammonia a felony carrying a punishment of two to 10 years
or a fine of up to $10,000 or both, said Joe Neal Hampton, Oklahoma
Fertilizer and Chemical Association president.

"People were buying propane bottles and going out and stealing
anhydrous off the farms," he said. "We're certainly supportive of (the
law) because it's become a big problem ... It's a fairly extensive
problem."

The idea for the new law surfaced when Williams, the Tulsa-based
energy and natural gas pipeline company, informed Rice that thieves
were stealing the chemical from the pipelines. Thefts occurred eight
times during the first 10 months of 2001, said Jerry Hereden, a
government affairs representative for Williams.

About 150 miles of Williams' anhydrous ammonia pipeline lies within
the state, with "block valves," or maintenance points, set up at
10-mile intervals, he said.

The law won't take effect soon enough for Pawnee County Sheriff Don
Sweger, whose deputies chase down anhydrous ammonia thieves once or
twice each week.

The sheriff's department uses handheld infrared scopes for
surveillance of the lines, Sweger said.