Washington, D.C. (rightcommentary.com): As the price of fuel rises, apparently people are stealing used cooking oil from fast food restaraunts (from the Christian Science Monitor):

San Jose, Calif. - Mark Rosenzweig watched with suspicion as a tanker truck sidled up to a local Burger King’s grease bin last month. The driver plunged a hose into the 300-gallon tub of used French-fry grease and slurped it into his tank.

Mr. Rosenzweig called the police, patiently citing legal codes to convince them that, yes, grease theft is a crime. He should know. As a legitimate grease collector, he has his livelihood stolen four to five times a month these days.

In March, grease bandits in South Bend, Ind., broke bin locks to get to their oozy booty. One collector, Griffin Industries Inc., has two detectives working cases in Kentucky, Texas, Florida, Missouri, and against an entire grease gang in northern Arkansas.

Grease is a traded commodity like gold or pork bellies, and its price has tripled in the past two years – leading to increased theft. The reason: Grease can be used to make bio-diesel and has seen the same price spike as corn and other biofuel inputs. (more at Christian Science Monitor)

If you are not familiar with biodiesel, Mike Rowe did a great episode on Dirty Jobs:

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