Grease (Theft) is the Word: 5th Most Bizarre Biofuels Story of the Year

In an article from last September, we introduced Texas attorney Jon Jaworski to Digest readers, via a hilarious profile that appeared on Minyanville.com.

Jaworski is known as “the Grease Lawyer,” specializing in advising on cases involving grease theft.

“I had a guy who was paid with a bottle of vodka and a couple cartons of cigarettes to steal grease. I also get a lot of calls from biodiesel companies wanting to know how to protect themselves from people stealing their grease…If it’s rancid oil, a pollutant, sitting in a garbage container, is it really theft? Under supreme court law, if it’s in a trash can, it’s trash.”

With organized crime getting into the game — and even a police sergeant in Folsom, CA was arrested last year for running a grease theft ring — grease thieves now have their own specialist mouthpiece. At thirty cents a gallon, that yellow crud is becoming the new “Texas Tea”.