Ohio legislators, including those representing constituents in Buckeye Rural Electric Cooperative’s service territory, want to make it harder for copper thieves to conduct their illicit trade. The 127th General Assembly is expected to take up a bill that would regulate the sale of scrap copper.

The high price of copper has resulted in a theft problem never before seen in Ohio. It is suspected that copper sold to scrap yards, recyclers, and salvage businesses includes a high percentage of metal stolen from utilities and private property owners.

Thieves have broken into electric substations and caused power outages in their zeal to steal the metal. Individuals have been electrocuted in attempts to cut energized copper lines. Phone companies have had cable ripped off poles. Even copper plumbing has been removed from under houses.

District 87 State Rep. Clyde Evans, who represents Gallia, Jackson, and Vinton counties, in addition to eastern Lawrence and Ross counties, supports legislation to regulate scrap copper sales and give law enforcement agencies a paper trail with which investigate and catch thieves.

He called copper theft a “plague” that drives up utility overhead costs, endangers workers and the public, and threatens the reliability of electric and telephone service.

Evans recently penned a “View from the Statehouse” column for local newspapers that focuses on the problem. He pledged to work with other legislators in Columbus to make selling contraband copper more difficult.

State Sen. Steve Stivers of Columbus has agreed to sponsor the copper theft bill. Stivers, chairman of the Senate Insurance, Commerce, and Labor Committee, formed a working group of contractors, utilities, law enforcement, and secondhand metal dealers to develop legislation.

Provisions of the bill being discussed seek to require scrap metal dealers to record information about individuals from whom they purchase copper, including government-issued identification and a description of materials. This information would be reported daily to law enforcement, and there would be criminal penalties for failure to maintain and furnish these records.

Criminal penalties would also apply for providing false identification in connection with scrap copper transactions, and criminal penalties would be levied for damaging utility facilities during commission of a copper theft.