1 US EPA Says it is Auditing Biofuel Producers' Secondhand Cooking Oil Supply

Thalia Bogart edited this page 2025-01-11 22:36:54 +08:00

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has actually released examinations into the supply chains of a minimum of two eco-friendly fuel producers amidst industry issues that some may be using fraudulent feedstocks for biodiesel to secure financially rewarding government aids.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the firm has launched audits over the previous year, but declined to determine the companies targeted due to the fact that the examinations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable active ingredients, like used cooking oil, can earn refiners a of state and federal environmental and climate subsidies, including tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But fears have been mounting that some supplies identified as used cooking oil are actually more affordable and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is connected with logging and other environmental damage.

The concern came into focus following a rise in used cooking oil exports from Asia over the last few years that analysts have stated includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil utilized and recuperated in the area. The European Union is also examining feedstocks over the scams issues.

The EPA audits started after the firm updated domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for sustainable fuel manufacturers looking for to make credits under the RFS, he said.

"EPA has conducted audits of renewable fuel manufacturers because July 2023 which includes, amongst other things, an examination of the locations that used cooking oil used in renewable fuel production was collected," he said. "These investigations, nevertheless, are ongoing and we are unable to go over ongoing enforcement investigations."

U.S. senators from farm states have actually required more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, stating federal companies need to be as strenuous in verifying imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.

"The Biden administration has actually created energetic standards to verify, not just trust, American manufacturers, and it is imperative that the exact same scrutiny is applied to imported feedstocks," 6 U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, wrote in a June 20 letter to federal firms.

Another letter from 15 senators to the Treasury Department on July 30 urged the administration to omit imported feedstocks like UCO from an additional clean fuel tax credit program passed in the Inflation Reduction Act. (Reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Matthew Lewis)