1 US EPA Says it is Auditing Biofuel Producers' Pre-owned Cooking Oil Supply

Lorene Pendleton edited this page 2025-01-12 10:25:19 +02:00

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has actually released investigations into the supply chains of at least 2 sustainable fuel manufacturers in the middle of market issues that some may be using fraudulent feedstocks for biodiesel to secure rewarding federal government subsidies.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the firm has actually launched audits over the past year, but decreased to identify the business targeted since the examinations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable components, like used cooking oil, can make refiners a variety of state and federal ecological and environment subsidies, consisting of tradable credits under a by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But fears have been installing that some products labeled as utilized cooking oil are actually cheaper and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is related to logging and other environmental damage.

The issue came into focus following a rise in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia recently that analysts have said involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil utilized and recovered in the region. The European Union is likewise examining feedstocks over the scams issues.

The EPA audits started after the agency updated domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for sustainable fuel producers seeking to earn credits under the RFS, he stated.

"EPA has actually carried out audits of renewable fuel producers since July 2023 that includes, among other things, an assessment of the areas that used cooking oil used in sustainable fuel production was collected," he said. "These examinations, nevertheless, are ongoing and we are unable to discuss ongoing enforcement examinations."

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

"The Biden administration has actually produced energetic requirements to confirm, not just trust, American producers, and it is vital that the very same scrutiny is used to imported feedstocks," six U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, composed in a June 20 letter to federal companies.

Another letter from 15 senators to the Treasury Department on July 30 advised 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)