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

Michal Benjafield edited this page 2025-01-18 05:07:34 +00:00

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has actually launched investigations into the supply chains of at least 2 sustainable fuel producers in the middle of industry issues that some may be utilizing fraudulent feedstocks for biodiesel to secure financially rewarding government subsidies.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the company has actually released audits over the past year, however decreased to recognize the business targeted because the investigations are ongoing.

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

The concern entered focus following a surge in used cooking oil exports from Asia over the last few years that analysts have actually said includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil used and recovered in the area. 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 carried out audits of sustainable fuel manufacturers considering that July 2023 that includes, among other things, an examination of the places that used cooking oil utilized in sustainable fuel production was collected," he stated. "These investigations, nevertheless, are ongoing and we are not able to discuss continuous enforcement investigations."

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

"The Biden administration has actually developed energetic requirements to verify, not just trust, American producers, and it is essential that the exact same examination is used to imported feedstocks," 6 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 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)