The man in that picture, 79-year-old David Wetzel, drives a 1986 Volkswagen Golf powered by used vegetable oil he gets for free from a dining hall. Everything was going fine until the Illinois Department of Revenue knocked on his door and accused him of ducking a motor fuel tax and operating a fuel business without a license. The Wentzels, who are on a fixed income, are facing fines and imprisonment.

Luckily, some state legislators are stepping in to ensure these folks aren’t sent to the Supermax, but seriously: it’s stuff like this — the blind implementation of laws that have no bearing on fact — that is most threatening to alternative fuels and energy. Sixty years ago some guy wanted to open two gas stations instead of one and you have two taxmen knocking on an old man’s door years later.

State makes big fuss over local couple’s vegetable oil car fuel [Herald Review via TechDirt]