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A few years ago, drums of used french fry grease were only of interest to a small network of underground biofuel brewers, who would use the slimy oil to power their souped-up antique Mercedes.
Now, restaurants from Berkeley, California, to Sedgwick, Kansas, are reporting thefts of old cooking oil worth thousands of dollars by rustlers who are refining it into barrels of biofuel in backyard stills.
“It’s like a war zone going on right now over grease,” said David Levenson, who owns a grease hauling business in San Francisco’s Mission District. “We’re seeing more and more people stealing grease because it lets them stay away from the pump, but it’s hurting our bottom line…”
Officials say oil rustlers typically siphon their supplies into drums of their own, which they take to backyard gins to be brewed for personal use.
The dude in the photo was caught with his tank truck on the way to a refinery that was paying him $1.35 a gallon, no questions asked.
I say string these rustlers up to the nearest live oak tree – or Exxon sign.
I would not focus too much attention on this personally, except to say that this is a wonderful trend. It will likely be followed by restaurants bringing in their own used oil for processing into B100 biodiesel. There are few sources of good biofuels. This is one of them. No farms were created for the used grease. It was simply going to be discarded. Little energy goes into making diesel out of it. The result burns cleaner and gets better mileage than petroleum based diesel. It’s a win all around. The petty thievery will stop when the restaurants keep the stuff locked up and then bring it in themselves. It’s not more valuable than steak and we haven’t heard about a rash of steak thieves nationwide.
Uh, actually, Scott – living in cattle country, I can affirm cattle rustling is still pretty common. Just doesn’t sell newspapers in the Big City.
At first I thought it was a picture of Tim Stack.
Anything not chained down is subject to theft. My 30 year old garden gnome got swiped last week. Unusual for a home landscaper go out and do that–must be a friend of a friend?
I won’t blame them, oil is over $135 the barrel. Man! Biodisel or walking or bicyle. Thats your choice.
Sorry Mr. Davis but your Volvo has a blocked #3 fuel injector, that will require angioplasty and possibly a stent. Your Volvo’s HDL and triglycerides are too high and the LDL is very low. We are going to have to look at alternatives for your fuel, perhaps an oil based fossil fuel?
Right. String them up from the nearest tree. First, your sense of justice and civility needs work. Secondly, consider the punishment you’re rendering in terms of the crime. Finally, a constructive suggestion, rather than one that describes the materials theft problem might help rather than simply inflame.
#2 – moss,
I was talking about stealing steaks from restaurants, not whole live cattle from ranches. There is a slight difference. Cattle are much more valuable and are typically let outside to roam for a while.
#6 – SparkyOne,
LOL. That is funny. Of course though it is only a joked since the diesel engine was invented to run on vegetable oil.
http://tinyurl.com/4qempt
Coming Soon, to a theater near you, Sam Waterston and Jeff Bridges re-unite and join forces with Mel Gibson in “Rancho Deluxe Road Warrior – You Want Fries With That?”, sponsored by McDonalds.
Well that ain’t as bad as those who are stealing road and public infrastructure material. Like the guy that was stealing manholes in LA to sell as scrap metal. Or stealing those aluminum crash barriers on the side of the road. With the price of metal going up, this is becoming more and more common.
#10 How do you steal a manhole? Isn’t it just a hole? Now I could see someone stealing a manhole cover because they are made of metal, but I don’t think you can steal a hole. I suppose you could fill the manhole with dirt and dig a new manhole where you want to move it to, but moving a hole is impossible.
Dude — you say people are stealing grease!?!
I think I know what they’re using it for:
http://tinyurl.com/5klrtz
[Please use TinyUrl.com for overly long URLs. – ed.]
#11, Ben, did you ever see Yellow Submarine?
Oh, and I’m sure there are numerous Trojan jokes to be had, but modesty and common decency and not being a Republican legislator forbids me. :).
#13 I was thinking Wiley Coyote moving holes in the road. No I never saw Yellow Submarine.
Geez, couldn’t you wait until it was used, or offer to take their old oil away? Which is still good for making biofuel AND since the restaurant usually has to pay to get it taken away you asking it for free would sound like music to their ears.
@14:
“…are reporting thefts of old cooking oil ..”
These people are taking away used/old oil that restaurants pay to dispose off. Yes, one could ask to take it away for free but I suspect that there are rules and regulations (and contracts?) that make life ridiculous…
Screw all of that! He should got to court. In his main defending argument he should use, ” What i finds I keeps.”
#11… my bad. Yes, I meant to say manhole covers. That would have been pretty funny otherwise.
Maybe he should try stealing some of this 96 year old restaurant cooking grease:
http://cagematch.dvorak.org/index.php/topic,4495.0.html
#19 – BubbaRay,
That stuff is just gross. I’m sure he’d be doing the patrons of that restaurant a favor by stealing the 1912 vintage grease. However, I think that it might change from petty theft to
grossgrand theft for stealing an antique. In fact, since no one else in the world has been stupid enough to be reusing the same damn grease for 96 years, it could even be considered a priceless (literally) one of a kind vat of lard.