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Theft of cooking oil on rise
Times Herald-record Middletown, NY ^ | 6/26/11 | John Sullivan

Posted on 06/26/2011 8:27:27 PM PDT by Impala64ssa

Middletown — They come in tanker trucks, mostly at night, to steal the liquid still smelling of fried chicken, tacos and egg rolls.

Used cooking oil is as good as gold these days, a consequence of rising crude oil prices and demand for biodiesel. That's put companies that collect the used material from restaurants on guard, industry officials said.

"Sometimes, they're very brazen; they'll come in the early morning or the afternoon and stick a hose in the container and siphon it out," said Jack LaBerta, account manager for Darling International, a national renderer with a plant in Newark, N.J.

LaBerta says that in the past year, his company has found empty oil collection bins at 20 restaurants in Middletown, Newburgh, Kingston and parts of Sullivan County. One crime spree in November apparently deprived his company of more than 1,000 gallons of used cooking oil from Orange County eateries, including six locations in Middletown and the Town of Wallkill, according to Middletown police.

Reports of used oil thefts have also occurred in smaller Orange County communities, such as Goshen, where someone left a slippery mess next to an oil collection bin behind a Chinese restaurant, according to a police report.

Rising fuel demand — and corresponding price hikes — are driving the trend.

Petroleum companies, reaping large profits from a spike in oil prices this year, increase their margins even more by legally blending diesel fuel with cheaper biodiesel, the price of which has not increased much, said Jerry Robock, who runs the Hudson Valley Biodiesel Cooperative. That raises demand for used cooking oil, which renderers recycle into a yellow grease used for animal feed, pharmaceutical products and the production of biodiesel.

It takes about one gallon of used cooking oil to make seven pounds of yellow grease.

(Excerpt) Read more at recordonline.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; News/Current Events; US: New York
KEYWORDS: biodiesel; cookingoil; diesel; oil; theft
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That WAS Michelle 0 lurking behind the local Chinese takeout ;)
1 posted on 06/26/2011 8:27:31 PM PDT by Impala64ssa
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To: Impala64ssa

No blood for cooking oil!


2 posted on 06/26/2011 8:29:39 PM PDT by reagan_fanatic (A communist is just a liberal in a hurry)
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To: Impala64ssa

Why would anyone want that crap?

It destroys engines by gluing the piston rings solid to the pistons.


3 posted on 06/26/2011 8:31:28 PM PDT by editor-surveyor (Going 'EGYPT' - 2012!)
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To: reagan_fanatic

LOL!


4 posted on 06/26/2011 8:35:08 PM PDT by yup2394871293
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; ColdOne; Convert from ECUSA; ...

Thanks Impala64ssa.
Used cooking oil is as good as gold these days, a consequence of rising crude oil prices and demand for biodiesel.
These thefts wouldn't happen if it weren't for the ethanol subsidies, the incandescent light bulb ban, Israeli construction projects, helmet laws, and velvet paintings of Elvis painted by illegal aliens.


5 posted on 06/26/2011 8:38:49 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (It's the Obamacare, stupid! -- Thanks Cincinna for this link -- http://www.friendsofitamar.org)
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To: editor-surveyor
It destroys engines by gluing the piston rings solid to the pistons.

Well silly, you have to let vegetable oil age for a while...like say, a million years.

6 posted on 06/26/2011 8:43:29 PM PDT by ROCKLOBSTER (Celebrate "Republicans freed the Slaves Month")
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To: SunkenCiv

...i’d only add to the list restrictions on drilling our own oil.
snd people stealing cooking oil, and copper tubing, doesn’t reassure me about a possible breakdown in our society soon.


7 posted on 06/26/2011 8:55:21 PM PDT by Elendur (the hope and change i need: Sarah / Colonel West in 2012)
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To: editor-surveyor

Not if properly filtered and refined to biodiesel.


8 posted on 06/26/2011 8:57:46 PM PDT by Blood of Tyrants (Islam is the religion of Satan and Mohammed was his minion.)
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To: Elendur

Empty factories are particularly susceptible to the copper thieves.Thieves broke into one empty factory down in Mobile recently and caused $64,000 in damages by stealing copper cables.


9 posted on 06/26/2011 9:01:33 PM PDT by Blood of Tyrants (Islam is the religion of Satan and Mohammed was his minion.)
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To: editor-surveyor

It’s usually not used straight, but chemically reacted with lye and alcohol to form the fuel compound. Using straight grease would be asking for bad varnish problems in the engine.


10 posted on 06/26/2011 9:01:56 PM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (Hawk)
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To: Impala64ssa

Padlocks can solve this seemingly intractable problem. Stuff has value and is unsecured? I’m SHOCKED that it would be stolen!


11 posted on 06/26/2011 9:08:16 PM PDT by DBrow
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To: Impala64ssa
It costs about $5 per gallon to convert used cooking oil into usable auto fuel, hardly seems worthwhile. Saponification of cooking oil also produces glycerin.
12 posted on 06/26/2011 9:11:44 PM PDT by Huskrrrr
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To: Impala64ssa
All this won't be an issue soon. The food police are actively trying to outlaw cooking in oils for the sake of our health.


13 posted on 06/26/2011 9:18:09 PM PDT by Lazlo in PA (Now living in a newly minted Red State.)
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To: Blood of Tyrants

Even the best biodiesel fails badly.

Last fall the school buses in Bend, Oregon all stalled with a load of passengers aboard, as the fuel slowly gelled in the fuel lines after they left the heated garage.

It took all the rest of the day to get the kids home, because they had zero buses with real diesel fuel in their tanks.

Politically correct is wonderful, isn’t it!


14 posted on 06/26/2011 9:18:09 PM PDT by editor-surveyor (Going 'EGYPT' - 2012!)
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To: Huskrrrr
Saponification of cooking oil also produces glycerin.

It's not just from soap making anymore.


15 posted on 06/26/2011 9:19:54 PM PDT by antiRepublicrat
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To: Huskrrrr

Bbbbut it’s for the children...


16 posted on 06/26/2011 9:21:03 PM PDT by editor-surveyor (Going 'EGYPT' - 2012!)
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To: editor-surveyor; Impala64ssa
Why would anyone want that crap?

It destroys engines by gluing the piston rings solid to the pistons.

Doesn't oil polymerize under the right conditions?

17 posted on 06/26/2011 9:26:25 PM PDT by thecodont
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To: editor-surveyor

Because you can make biodiesel out of it — that’s regular old diesel fuel, by the way, exactly what you get at the pump — like we do for a diesel Mercedes.


18 posted on 06/26/2011 9:32:33 PM PDT by Blue Ink
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To: Blue Ink

No, you need to get educated.


19 posted on 06/26/2011 9:39:35 PM PDT by editor-surveyor (Going 'EGYPT' - 2012!)
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To: Lazlo in PA
My retirement grease!
20 posted on 06/26/2011 9:40:26 PM PDT by boop ("Let's just say they'll be satisfied with LESS"... Ming the Merciless)
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