Artificial markets can only lead to fraud.
The Washington Times editorializes:
… Last week, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, Michigan Republican, and Energy and Power Subcommittee Chairman Ed Whitfield, Kentucky Republican, opened their own investigation into the fraudulent outfits that sell tradeable biodiesel fuel credits to legitimate companies that need to meet the arbitrary mandates established by the EPA and Congress…
Beginning in 2009, the Maryland-based firm Clean Green Fuel sold credits representing 21 million gallons of biodiesel on the EPA trading system. This company was a model of political correctness, claiming it dispatched employees to collect waste vegetable oil from 2,700 nearby restaurants so that it could be converted into fuel. According to EPA, however, Clean Green had no facilities to collect or convert anything. Court documents assert that Clean Green’s owner pocketed $9.1 million in cash, which he then used to collect quite a carbon footprint from more than two-dozen luxury and sports cars, including several Ferraris, a Lamborghini and a Bentley purchased with a check for $377,210. Court documents also show the owner’s wife enjoyed $81,950 worth of diamond jewelry…
Where actually was the junk from Love Canal sent? It could have been the Mississippi River delta for all we know, lost somewhere south of New Orleans, diluted to parts per trillion by now.
Used vegetable oil is another target waste that EPA does not consider a waste because that is another bucket of worms. EPA employees are smart enough to not walk through a well-marked mine field.
When you deep-fry fish, or even a Thanksgiving turkey, what do you do with the old oil?
This is actually consistent with EPA standards. It’s called “cradle to grave” responsibility. The fact that you are the victim of a crime does not absolve you of environmental responsibility. In fact, most of the time, you have to pay for the cleanup of the mess the criminal left behind on top of fines. The classic example is the discount hazardous waste facility that comes in and hauls off a few thousand drums of waste oils and peroxides for “disposal”. The companies get their paperwork back and everything appears to be in order until they get a call from a farmer asking what all these barrels are doing on his back 40. Joe Conman hightails it out of town and his victims are responsible for cleaning up and disposing of the the hazardous waste that was put there (on top of what they paid the thief) and then they get their names dragged through the mud and fines levied at them by the agency.