I'm a member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, and have been closely monitoring the work that the FTC is doing in this area.

thieves are more likely to target utilities that are located in cities or suburbs rather than rural areas.

I think it has been taking too long at the EPA.

I was thinking for me, then having this hearing and having worked on this bill, some of this was new to me.

Thank you. Do you want to end just by saying why you think this Federal legislation is so important?

I hope they do that in politics, too.

the fact that 95.1 percent of utility companies had experienced copper theft in the past year; that 86.6 percent of utility companies had a process in place to track incidents of copper theft; and yet there were more than 50,000…

We are simply trying to get the information that we can get so that we can help law enforcement to solve them.

I know and we know that the recordkeeping and retention requirements in the Klobuchar-Hatch bill will not end all metal theft across the country, but it is a positive, proactive step to helping law enforcement as we strive to reduce…

Senator Pryor authored a bill called the Safe Viewing Act, which became law this past December.

How about the idea of some kind of increased criminal penalties for this kind of activity?