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

Phillip Evans edited this page 3 months ago

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has launched investigations into the supply chains of a minimum of two eco-friendly fuel manufacturers amidst market issues that some might be utilizing deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to secure profitable federal government subsidies.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the company has actually introduced audits over the previous year, however to determine the companies 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 fears have been installing that some products labeled as used cooking oil are really cheaper and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is related to logging and other ecological damage.

The problem came into focus following a surge in used cooking oil exports from Asia in the last few years that experts have said involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil utilized and recovered in the region. The European Union is also investigating feedstocks over the fraud issues.

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

"EPA has performed audits of sustainable fuel manufacturers given that July 2023 that includes, to name a few things, an evaluation of the locations that used cooking oil utilized in sustainable fuel production was gathered," he said. "These investigations, however, are continuous and we are unable to talk about continuous enforcement examinations."

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

"The Biden administration has actually developed vigorous requirements to confirm, not simply trust, American producers, and it is crucial that the very same analysis 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 urged the administration to leave out 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)