Monday, May 30, 2011

Greasy Influence: Republican version

Well the Republican’s are now in charge in North Carolina for the first time in over 100 years.  This is the group that the Chamber of Commerce made robo-calls in support of.  So of course we are going to see less regulation and climate more friendly to small business.  LOL
The newspaper story starts of a slippery tale to increase the penalties on stealing the left over kitchen grease from restaurants.  This grease is one of the main a sources of alternative diesel fuel.  The Republican legislator, Representative John Torbett of Gaston County NC, said that he “heard” it was difficult to get convictions under existing law.
But then the real purpose of the bill becomes slides into place:
Anne Blythe, News & Observer (Raleigh, NC), 27 May 2011
It also would require collectors of the waste to be licensed and inspected by the state if they plan to resell the animal fats or vegetable oils as fuel.
And it would require anyone with such an operation to show proof of general liability insurance of at least $1 million…
"I think this stinks," said Lyle Estill, a founder of Piedmont Biofuels, a Chatham County cooperative that collects, processes and resells used vegetable oil. "This is just a bunch of Republicans trying to pass a bunch of new regulations to crush the little guy"…
Torbett disputes notions that his bill is designed to crush the small fry in the alternative fuel industry and leave the new energy world to the larger corporations.
"This is about what's rapidly becoming a commodity," Torbett sad. "I found out about this and thought it needs to be brought up."
One imagines that the check from the rendering industries is already in the mail.
Rendering Plant

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