I am, but the story is interesting. At least this version.
WASTE PRODUCTS
The materials used to make Refluopetrolio were classified as secondary refuse matter. This is waste that comes from the processing of raw materials. It also applies to the materials gathered from the recovery and/or recycling of waste products.
Everything produced by Petroldragon was subject to taxation. Therefore, every shipment of incoming waste, as well as the outgoing products were sampled and analyzed by Italy?s Ministry of Finance. The Ministry kept a close eye on the entire process, because taxes were levied on both incoming and outgoing products. While none of the waste being processed was considered toxic waste, Rossi still was a stickler for proper containment and transportation, and Petroldragon facilities were well maintained, especially under the surveillance of the Ministry of Finance.
Petroldragon paid over 2 billion Lire in taxes to the Italian government for production of its materials. In addition, since they were producing fuel, they paid additional fuel production taxes. Petroldragon was recognized and taxed, by the Italian government, as a fuel producing entity, and Refluopetrolio was a legitimate fuel.
CHANGE OF POLICY
In the early 90s, two things happened to prove the death of Petroldragon: the oil industry woke up to the threat posed by Refluopetrolio, and organized crime in the form of the Camorra family, moved into waste disposal.
Since Petroldragon produced fuel, it was considered a fuel manufacturer, not a waste disposal company. They had no permits for waste disposal, since the company did not dispose of the waste, but manufactured oil from it, instead.
However, organized crime in Italy WAS in the waste disposal business, and did not want Petroldragon in their territory. In addition, oil companies were beginning to take notice of this alternative to fossil fuel. They were relatively ignorant of Refluopetrolio as long as it was limited to one country?s industrial uses, but when the public sector started to become aware of its use for personal transportation, the oil industries started to notice.
What happened next has all the earmarks of a coup, with coordinated moves by the government and media to overthrow Petroldragon and Andrea Rossi, himself.
Simply put, the waste that Rossi was converting to oil was suddenly classified as toxic waste, changing all of the rules. His holding tanks at the refineries were classified as toxic waste dumps, and he was arrested and charged with illegal dumping of toxic waste. All of his factories, the refinery, and all equipment was seized by the government. All production was halted.
Most interestingly, all of the waste being held in storage tanks on the factory grounds had to, for some reason, be ?disposed of?. This meant that waste disposal companies had to be called in to get rid of the toxic waste. So, for many times the cost of transporting the waste to Petroldragon sites, the waste disposal companies came in and re-transported the waste materials to other sites ? where it was either dumped or burned. The dump site was Campania, in Southern Italy, and the ground water and soil pollution attests to the dumping.
Interestingly enough, the process of taking bids and awarding contracts for waste disposal, which usually take months or even years to accomplish, were completed in a number of days.
At the same time Petroldragon was seized, a public smear campaign was begun accusing Rossi of dumping toxic waste. This was the same waste the Ministry of Finance had been sampling and testing for years. Rossi was accused in public of operating waste treatment plants without authorization or permits.
In addition, even with the constant surveillance of the Ministry of Finance, which was responsible for assessing taxes on Petroldragon, Rossi was still accused of evading taxes.
RIPPLE EFFECTS
The waste product s, as used by Petroldragon, had always been classified as production materials for Refluopetrolio, therefore under the oversight of the Ministry of Finance. Now, since it was all declared waste material and to be disposed of accordingly, all products made from the materials were also declared waste materials. Therefore, all customers who had warehouses full of the refined oil made by the Omar plant and other refineries now discovered that they actually owned toxic waste. They had to hire waste disposal companies to rid themselves of the fuel now considered waste. Since the Omar refinery and the Petroldragon sites did not have waste treatment permits, they were all outlawed and shut down.
All of Rossi?s banks, with whom he had worked for years, shut off his credit. All production was ceased, and all income stopped, not only for Rossi but for his workers. With Rossi in prison, he could do nothing to save the company. The media accused Rossi of running waste transformation without any regulation, in order to evade disposal costs.
Rossi?s entire assets, personal, family, and company, were liquidated by bankruptcy receivers, leaving him stripped of all assets and penniless. At the 56 trials that have followed, customers who were stuck holding warehouses of ?toxic waste? from Petroldragon and Omar have, repeatedly and steadfastly, testified in favor of Andrea Rossi, claiming that his product was, indeed, fuel, and he has broking no laws.
Over 17 years, Rossi has been imprisoned several times. In each of these cases, he was acquitted. Five of the accusations of tax crime had convictions. Of the 56 prosecutions, these 5 are the only convictions. The most recent imprisonment was in 2000, when he was arrested because of the bankruptcy of the Omar facility.
Although he has been vindicated over and over again, the damage to Petroldragon was fatal, and it was time to move on.