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

Larry Woodd edited this page 2025-01-18 13:00:22 +00:00

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Agency has introduced investigations into the supply chains of a minimum of 2 sustainable fuel producers in the middle of industry concerns that some may be using fraudulent feedstocks for biodiesel to protect rewarding government subsidies.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the company has launched audits over the past year, but decreased to recognize the companies targeted due to the fact that the investigations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable ingredients, like utilized cooking oil, can make refiners a slew of state and federal ecological and environment aids, consisting of tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But fears have actually been installing that some supplies identified as utilized cooking oil are really cheaper and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is connected with logging and other ecological damage.

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

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

"EPA has conducted audits of sustainable fuel producers given that July 2023 which includes, to name a few things, an examination of the areas that used cooking oil used in sustainable fuel production was collected," he said. "These investigations, nevertheless, are continuous and we are not able to discuss continuous enforcement examinations."

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

"The Biden administration has produced vigorous standards to confirm, not just trust, American manufacturers, and it is important that the same analysis is applied to imported feedstocks," six U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, composed in a June 20 letter to federal firms.

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