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

Chance Healy edited this page 2025-01-18 01:18:23 +00:00

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has introduced investigations into the supply chains of at least two renewable fuel manufacturers amidst market concerns that some may be utilizing fraudulent feedstocks for biodiesel to secure lucrative government aids.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the company has actually introduced audits over the previous year, but declined to recognize the business targeted because the examinations are ongoing.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable active ingredients, like utilized cooking oil, can earn refiners a multitude of state and federal environmental and environment subsidies, including tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But worries have actually been mounting that some supplies labeled as used cooking oil are actually less expensive and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is related to logging and other environmental damage.

The issue came into focus following a rise in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia in the last few years that analysts have actually stated involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil utilized and recovered in the region. The European Union is also investigating feedstocks over the scams issues.

The EPA audits began after the agency updated accounting requirements in July 2023 for sustainable fuel manufacturers looking for to earn credits under the RFS, he said.

"EPA has carried out audits of sustainable fuel manufacturers given that July 2023 which includes, to name a few things, an examination of the locations 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 investigations."

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

"The Biden administration has produced vigorous requirements to verify, not just trust, American manufacturers, and it is essential that the exact same scrutiny is applied to imported feedstocks," 6 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 advised the administration to exclude imported feedstocks like UCO from an extra clean fuel tax credit program passed in the Inflation Reduction Act. (Reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Matthew Lewis)