A grease shortage worries biodiesel makers

At $5 a gallon and competition for feedstock, Oregon's fledgling biodiesel industry could burn out before it ever gets going

The Oregonian
Sunday, June 08, 2008
AMY HSUAN The Oregonian Staff

There's a shortage of fryer grease in America.

Thieves pilfer it by the gallon. Investors wage a bidding war for every golden drop. Add to that the soaring price of soy and canola seed, and you can understand why 26-year-old Libby Rodgers, who hopes to launch a biodiesel company, won't reveal the sources of her blend.

"I don't want to shoot my mouth off," says Rodgers, who collects grease from places around Prineville that she won't name. "I can't say too much about my feedstock. It is just so competitive."

Not long ago, restaurants might have paid Rodgers to haul away their oily dribbles. But with a runaway commodity market and growing friction in the food vs. fuel conflict, secondhand grease has become the diamond of gemstones to biodiesel brewers.

Now, the grease crisis has become just one part of a slippery slope that threatens Oregon's biodiesel bonanza.

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