Desperate drivers turn to vegetable oil fuel

DEFIANTLY FUELISH ON VEGGIE OIL
By ANGELA MONTEFINISE and SUSANNAH CAHALAN, NY Post

City drivers - some ecologically inclined, others feeling the pinch of rising gas costs - are retrofitting their diesel cars to run on vegetable oil, despite an Environmental Protection Agency threat of a $32,000-per-day fine.

Vegetable oil and its byproducts are not an approved fuel, the agency says, because they have not been sufficiently tested.

But New York City firefighter Phil Gibbs, 49, runs a Volkswagen, a pickup truck and a 1,500 square-foot weekend house in Connecticut on veggie oil that he gets for free from The Park Slope Chip Shop, a restaurant on Fifth Avenue in Brooklyn.

"It's one of those few things that is so good, you would never believe it could be true," Gibbs said.
The EPA has "conducted some inspections" regarding "noncompliant biodiesel," which includes vegetable oil, said agency spokesman Dave Ryan.

"Because these investigations are ongoing, we cannot discuss them," he added. "The maximum penalty could be $32,500 per day per violation if someone is using vegetable oil that has not been processed as required by the Clean Air Act."

Vegetable oil gets similar gas mileage to diesel, but produces far less harmful emissions, says the National VegOil Board, a California-based nonprofit aimed at educating the public about grease cars.