He reached out to the biodiesel community at conferences and on Internet message boards, and the business grew. In July 2007, he was so busy with the business that he quit his day job. Now, he ships more than 100 orders a week.

Less than 1 percent of his business is in Utah, he says. The majority of the business is on the East and West coasts. He also has shipped to Canada, South Africa, Australia, the United Kingdom and Hungary.

Blair knows that he could technically be in violation of EPA rules by making biodiesel. "I've heard that before," he said. "I've never seen a case where they've gone after someone. I'm not worried. I think the IRS would come after me long before the EPA."

Two years ago, Blair was involved in trying to mediate a dispute in Utah between the people who make biodiesel and SVO fuel, and grease-collection and rendering companies that use grease to enrich animal feed and trade it on commodities markets. The issue was brought to the Salt Lake Valley Health Department, which deals with transporting and disposing of waste.

The companies said the small-time garage refiners weren't obeying health regulations, and some garage refiners were even stealing the oil from restaurants. As a result, it is now illegal to collect grease from restaurants in Salt Lake County without obtaining a liquid hauling permit, which requires haulers have general liability insurance.

"It's really geared to businesses and commercial, and I realize there are some hobbyists, and we need to work on a policy to deal with that," says Brian Bennion, deputy director of the Salt Lake Valley Health Department.

Blair says the biodiesel- and SVO-making community has gone underground as a result of the Salt Lake Valley Health Department's regulations. "Word got around real quick: Don't collect oil in Salt Lake County," Blair said.

High demand, high risk

Ron Tribe of North Ogden has struggled to obtain waste vegetable oil, which he wanted in order to make biodiesel for his pickup.

"That's the tough part now: There's so much competition for the used vegetable oil," Tribe says. "We were doing little small cafes, but now even the big collection agencies have signed a long-term contract with them."

Tribe estimates it costs 80-85 cents a gallon to produce biodiesel, minus the labor. He had been making just enough to fill up a portion of his truck's tank. He topped it off with Chevron diesel.

"We had a lot of confidence in the recipe and our methods," he says. "We just wanted baby steps, if I could use that term. The first batch, we did B10. Then B12, then B50. Then we lost our source for the oil."