Is Alternative Fuel a Solution?

An article written by Los Angeles Times columnist, Evan Halper, tucked in the corner of a page of the Las Vegas Review Journal, caught my eye.   I quote, “Advocates say that more than 250,000 Americans are running their vehicles on cooking oil, with the biggest concentration in California. Drivers do it for different reasons: to protect the environment, to reduce dependence on foreign oil or to save money. Those using vegetable oil say they do so for as little as $1 a gallon…and grease yields better mileage than gasoline and about the same as diesel fuel.”

Kitchen grease is available at eateries and the Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, is driving his Hummer with cooking oil and garages are overwhelmed with converting the engines to burn the used grease from restaurant used-grease tanks.  

Some companies say they have small adjustment tanks that hold water that cut the use of gasoline in cars in half and water is cleaner. I must recall that the early cars traveled with steam engines using water only.  So why are we, as a nation, allowing the big oil companies to control our spending and pollute our environment?

The News is filled with the problems of creating electricity. Lake Mead’s water level is low and the power company must buy power from other suppliers as they build windmills and solar power facilities; the costs of which add dollars to our already high power bills. Where did the contractors go who used to make a living going door to door installing solar systems to fuel homes in our neighborhoods and add heat to the pools in the majority of back yards.  Ah… they were large, black and not beautiful to look at.  But, they sure saved the homeowner a lot of money!!

What happened with generators? Hotels have them and when the power goes out, the generators keep the hotels in business so the gamblers can continue playing.  People living in the country are permitted to have generators until the power company can bring their lines in…and the generators must be removed.  That’s the law.

All of these sources are environmentally clean and less expensive… so why are we dependent on the oil companies and paying nearly $4 a gallon at the pumps … and nearly/or more than $200 a month for electricity?

WHY?  Evan Halper explains, “Burning fat instead of gasoline breaks the law.” Alternative fuels use has caused governmental problems: Those who do are tax cheats and large fines are being imposed!! Who will pay a road tax on the grease or vegetable oil used in the car? Tax authorities say that biofuel users must pay to use the roads. Can you cart away kitchen grease away from eateries without paying for a $300 license from the state Meat and Poultry Inspection Branch? Must you post a $1million liability insurance bond in case some of the grease is spilled? Must you get permission from the state Air Resources Board to burn fat in the first place?

Environmentalists are frustrated. “It is ridiculous that we live in what is presumed to be one of the greenest states in the nation, yet we have the antiquated laws to deal with green energy,” said Josh Tickell, and alternative-fuels advocate and filmmaker whose documentary, “Fields of Fuel” won an award at the Sundance Film Festival.

Some states: Illinois, Rhode Island and Indiana have exempted drivers burning kitchen grease from paying taxes.  Will Nevada join with them or follow California in their raid on the taxpayer’s dollar as more and more people turn to alternate fuels for their cars, their homes and backyard pools?