I have been checked twice for red fuel. The first time two Kansas Department
of Revenue Agents showed up at our equipment yard. You don't have to let
them pull a sample without a search warrent but it is an automatic $1000
fine per truck for refusing. Two pickups tested positive, they sent a sample
to the lab. The lab reported 1 1/2 gallons of red fuel in the full tank of
one truck and about a gallon in the other (these were old trucks rarely ever
used). The fine was $2000 per truck plus $1.15 in taxes due for the 2 1/2
gallons of red determined to be in the tanks.
The second check was done by Federal IRS Agents doing a random check at our
construction site along a highway. They just saw the trucks and stopped by.
Everything checked OK on this one. These guys drive around all over and
check trucks at random.
Now if a pickup runs out of fuel and there is a tank full of "Red" in the
back, we go to town and bring a can of "Clear" fuel to get home on.
Tom Chism
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jim Newton" <jnewton@laurel.com>
To: "Military Vehicles Mailing List" <mil-veh@mil-veh.org>
Sent: Wednesday, August 15, 2001 2:14 AM
Subject: Re: [MV] Fryer fat in a deuce?? -- What About "Red" Diesel and HHO?
Hi List...
And then there's the whole can-o-worms on "red" diesel -- home heating
oil and off-road diesel fuel. It seems that these are the exact same
fuel as our old friend regular diesel with red dye added to indicate
that federal road taxes have NOT been paid upon it.
I know I'm opening a HUGE flame war here because it seems that nobody
understands the truth about HHO and off-road diesel versus on-road
diesel fuel. I have read big flame wars on USENET groups about this
topic.
Before you flame me and say that HHO will make your diesel engine
seize, check the web for RELIABLE sources and you will find that the
reason that the feds ADD the red dye to HHO for off-road and home
heating sales is because they are exactly the same fuel as
diesel...just taxes versus not taxed.
I was up in Sebastopol, CA (a farming community about 50 miles north
of San Francisco and just inland from Bodega Bay, where Hitchcock's
"The Birds" was filmed) a few months ago, and the local gas station
actually had "red" diesel for sale at one of the pumps at $0.70 a
gallon cheaper than the green-nozzled regular diesel right next to it.
It is intended to be sold to farmers who run diesel tractors on their
private property...and there are a lot of those around up there. I
was tempted to pump the "red" diesel into my M1007 Suburban, but being
the moral person I am I bought the road "clear" diesel and paid my
taxes.
I think that since I use my two diesel vehicles for about 100 miles a
month off-road, it would be legal, moral and fair for me to fill up my
2 spare diesel Jerry cans with the non-taxed "red" diesel and use
those for off-road use. I might have "pink" fuel on my trip home,
through.
Has anyone on this list really ever been inspected by any law
enforcement officer to see if you have "red" or "clear" fuel in your
tanks?
Does anyone make an additive that bleaches the red dye out of off-road
diesel? It probably would cost about $0.70 for enough to treat a
gallon on "red" diesel. Heh heh.
I'm not suggesting that anyone on this list use "red" diesel in their
road vehicle to circumvent the tax laws. I am only pointing out that
if you are paying for road taxes for using your vehicle on private or
public off-road lands, you need not do it any longer.
This reminds me of when I bought a few gallons of liquid nitrogen for
some R&D at my company. Quiz: The Earth;s atmosphere is 93 percent
WHAT? That's right, NITROGEN. Do you know that I had to pay a
HAZARDOUS WASTE DISPOSAL FEE on 3 gallons of liquid nitrogen? Now
explain to me exactly what the HAZMAT team would do if these 3 gallons
of N spilled onto the roadway...would they scoop it up or let it
evaporate? I'd love to watch them try to scoop it up!
Ike out.
--Jim "Ike" Newton
o 1984 Military CUCV Suburban 6.2 Liter Turbo-Diesel Engine 3/4 Ton Cargo Capacity, 4WD
o 1971 M35A2 Military Troop/Cargo Truck "Deuce and a Half" 478 Cubic Inch Turbo-Diesel Multi-Fuel Engine Air Shift Front Axle 2 1/2 Ton Cargo Capacity, 6WD
See them at: http://www.CUCV.net
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sun Sep 02 2001 - 11:15:39 PDT