Going green with a grease-fueled car lands driver in legal limbo

A typical conversion adds a second fuel tank to the car: The original tank holds diesel and the second holds vegetable oil that drivers can get from restaurants, supermarkets or even their own kitchens.

After starting the engine, the car runs on diesel just long enough to heat the vegetable oil until it flows freely enough to use. Then the engine switches over to straight vegetable oil.

But it is technically illegal to modify a car to run on any fuel other than the one it was designed for. Because the Environmental Protection Agency has not approved vegetable oil as a fuel, grease cars are in violation of the Clean Air Act.

This does not apply to the use of biodiesel, an EPA-regulated fuel created from soy and other organic oils.

People who modify their cars to run on vegetable oil could face a $2,750 fine, although the EPA has no record of any such penalties, said spokesman Dale Kemery.

People who run their vehicles on homebrewed fuels are also supposed to pay a Maryland fuel tax of 24.25 cents per gallon, be licensed as a special fuel user by the state and file a monthly report on the use of fuel.

But because the use of vegetable oil fuel is so new, nobody has been penalized for not paying taxes, said Warren Hansen, spokesman for the Maryland Comptroller’s Office. He said there are only about 100 licensed special fuel users in the state.

Smarter Fuel, a company that picks up oil from restaurants, pays fuel tax and sells it for use in engines, has met no legal opposition and hopes that vegetable oil will become an EPA-approved energy source.