MINNEAPOLIS – A new state law designed to combat copper theft will take effect Jan. 1, after a judge denied a request to suspend the law as part of an ongoing lawsuit.
The ruling by Ramsey County District Judge Sara Grewing was issued Dec. 18 in the suit filed by the Upper Midwest chapter of the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, Inc., a trade group that represents scrap metal workers.
The new state law requires anyone who recycles scrap metal copper for a profit to first obtain a license. It was enacted as St. Paul, Minneapolis and other cities have struggled with thieves stripping copper wire from streetlights, parks and other public infrastructure…