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

Hassan Mcgehee edited this page 2025-01-12 00:51:16 +02:00

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has launched examinations into the supply chains of a minimum of two sustainable fuel producers amidst industry issues that some might be utilizing deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to secure lucrative government subsidies.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis informed that the firm has introduced audits over the previous year, however decreased to identify the business targeted since the examinations are ongoing.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable components, like used cooking oil, can make refiners a slew of state and federal ecological and environment subsidies, consisting of tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But worries have actually been installing that some supplies labeled as utilized cooking oil are actually more affordable and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is related to deforestation and other ecological damage.

The issue entered focus following a surge in used cooking oil exports from Asia recently that analysts have said includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil used and recovered in the area. The European Union is also investigating feedstocks over the scams issues.

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

"EPA has conducted audits of sustainable fuel manufacturers given that July 2023 that includes, among other things, an examination of the locations that utilized cooking oil used in eco-friendly fuel production was gathered," he said. "These investigations, however, are continuous and we are not able to go over continuous enforcement examinations."

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

"The Biden administration has actually created energetic standards to confirm, not just trust, American producers, and it is crucial that the exact same analysis is applied to imported feedstocks," six U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, wrote in a June 20 letter to federal agencies.

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