A public utility district in Mason County, Washington, has started putting notices on its power poles. The message is blunt: “This wire is steel core, not copper. It has no scrap value!” The district hopes the signs will stop thieves from hacking through fiber-optic lines they mistake for copper.
It is the sort of fix utilities resort to when the usual protections fail. Justin Holzgrove, director of engineering and utility services at the district, told a state Senate committee in September that copper theft is rising across the county. “Despite requirements for ID, waiting periods and recordkeeping, copper continues to be stolen and resold with ease,” he said. In his view, the current rules are “either not enforced, too easy to bypass or too lenient to matter.”
Outages and close calls
One Thanksgiving Day theft from underground electrical vaults on the Tahuya Peninsula left around a thousand homes without power. Mason County’s Public Utility District No. 1 is now laying broadband cable for the third time, a project paid for by a state grant, after thieves cut it twice. The state has had to reimburse the utility for repairs each time, and this round the crew strung the lines as high as they could go.
General Manager Kristin Masteller described the danger to workers. A few years ago someone appeared to have been badly burned after breaking into one of the utility’s vaults and cutting live wires, and the crew that responded “expected to see limbs.” She added: “I never want any of our employees to roll up on an outage and find a dead body.”
Comcast security manager Daniel Grisim told senators the problem has “risen to a crisis level” in recent years as copper prices climbed. Lumen recorded 350 incidents in Washington this year, against 146 in all of last year, and its spokesperson Sarah Wix said the company now uses covert video surveillance and GPS tracking alarms in high-risk areas. Copper theft also disrupted Sound Transit light rail service over the summer.
What lawmakers are weighing
Current state law bars sellers from removing identifying marks from metal or falsely declaring it is not stolen. Scrapyards cannot buy metal from a known theft, from a minor or from someone who is obviously drunk or high. Lawmakers tightened scrapyard rules in 2022 after a wave of catalytic converter thefts. This year a bill adding civil penalties for yards that deal in stolen telecom copper drew bipartisan support but went nowhere.
Holzgrove wants unannounced audits of scrapyards, tougher penalties for theft aimed at critical infrastructure, proof of ownership from anyone selling copper wire, and payment by delayed check only. Rep. Cindy Ryu, D-Shoreline, is leading a workgroup that will bring proposals to the 2026 session, which opens in January. She said any package is likely to pair harsher criminal penalties with more obligations for scrap businesses, and she wants a better “no-buy” database so yards can check sellers for theft convictions.
Sean Daoud of the Recycled Materials Association suggested that utilities and telecom companies stamp their names on wire so yards can spot stolen stock. Scrap recycling lobbyist Holly Chisa described one case in which thieves wore lineworker uniforms, drove a utility truck and handed over a forged invoice to sell stolen wire.
The trouble is not confined to Washington. Oklahoma passed a bill in 2021 tightening seller identification rules, and Saskatchewan moved against scrap metal theft the same year. Copper has also been taken from a Manhattan subway line, where thieves made off with US$500,000 of wiring in late 2020.
Sources
- Copper Theft Rising Alongside Stronger Copper Prices
- Utilities and telecoms turn to WA lawmakers for help as copper wire theft surges
