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

Russ Givens edited this page 1 day ago

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has actually launched investigations into the supply chains of a minimum of 2 sustainable fuel manufacturers in the middle of market issues that some might be using deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to secure profitable government subsidies.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the agency has introduced audits over the past year, but decreased to identify the companies targeted because the examinations are ongoing.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable active ingredients, like utilized cooking oil, can make refiners a variety of state and federal ecological and climate subsidies, including tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But fears have been installing that some supplies labeled as used cooking oil are really less expensive and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is connected with logging and other .

The concern entered focus following a rise in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia in recent years that experts have stated includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil used and recovered in the region. The European Union is likewise examining feedstocks over the scams concerns.

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

"EPA has actually performed audits of eco-friendly fuel producers considering that July 2023 that includes, amongst other things, an evaluation of the places that utilized cooking oil used in sustainable fuel production was gathered," he said. "These examinations, nevertheless, are continuous and we are unable to discuss ongoing enforcement examinations."

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

"The Biden administration has actually created vigorous standards to confirm, not simply trust, American manufacturers, and it is vital that the exact same examination is used 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 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)