Minnesota's new anti-copper theft law yields mixed early results
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A street light stripped of its copper wire guts outside Minneapolis' Bancroft Elementary School. Photo: Kyle Stokes/Axios
A new Minnesota law meant to crack down on copper wire theft has been in effect for six months — but it's too soon to tell whether the law is the solution cities have been seeking.
Why it matters: Thieves stripping and selling copper wires from street lamps have damaged thousands of lights, sending repair costs in Minneapolis and St. Paul spiraling into the millions.
- The outages also pose safety issues. In 2023, a driver struck and killed a pedestrian crossing a St. Paul street darkened by copper thieves.
What they're saying: Reports of copper theft in St. Paul were down 60% through April 30 versus last year, the city's public works director Sean Kershaw said in a social media post.
- Though St. Paul crews still have a backlog of repair requests to clear, Kershaw told KSTP he credited the new law, which requires most people to obtain a $250 license to sell scrap copper.
The other side: Minneapolis officials are hopeful the new state law will have an effect, but until word spreads among thieves, "people may still be under the idea that they can still make money doing this," city operations officer Margaret Anderson Kelliher told reporters last week.
By the numbers: In Minneapolis, streetlight outage reports to the city's 3-1-1 app and hotline so far this year were down by 12% compared to the same period in 2024, according to city data.
- However, some of those might be repeat complaints about the same light, city officials said.
The latest: Minneapolis officials announced last week they'll spend $1 million in contingency funds to clear a backlog of an estimated 450 streetlights out due to wire theft.
- As measured by miles of affected wire, Minneapolis has repaired roughly triple the amount of lights in the first half of this year than in all of 2022.
Friction point: Metal recyclers are fighting in court to block the law, arguing in filings that it creates "impossible compliance requirements" and could "shut down the scrap metal industry."
- The recyclers' attorney, Jack Perry, told Axios his clients are encouraged by talks with the Legislature for amendments to the law. They're also "optimistic" about their lawsuit's chances.
Zoom out: The issue hasn't been as pronounced in other cities.
- Rochester police spokesperson Amanda Grayson told Axios that the city has seen only two reports of copper wire theft so far this year ("mostly from construction sites"), down from six last year.
- Officials from Woodbury and Brooklyn Park said the theft hasn't been an issue in their cities.
What we're watching: Over the last 18 months, Minneapolis crews have switched to repairing more damaged streetlights with aluminum wires , in part to deter theft.
- Aluminum's value as scrap metal is about one-quarter that of copper.