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

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By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has actually into the supply chains of a minimum of 2 sustainable fuel producers in the middle of industry concerns that some might be utilizing deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to protect financially rewarding government subsidies.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the company has launched audits over the past year, however decreased to recognize the business targeted due to the fact that the investigations are ongoing.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable 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 been installing that some materials identified as utilized cooking oil are really cheaper and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is connected with deforestation and other environmental damage.

The issue entered focus following a rise in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia in the last few years that experts have said involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil used and recuperated in the area. The European Union is likewise investigating feedstocks over the scams issues.

The EPA audits began after the agency upgraded domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for eco-friendly fuel producers looking for to earn credits under the RFS, he said.

"EPA has actually performed audits of sustainable fuel manufacturers because July 2023 which includes, to name a few things, an assessment of the places that utilized cooking oil utilized in renewable fuel production was gathered," he stated. "These examinations, nevertheless, are ongoing and we are not able to discuss continuous enforcement examinations."

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

"The Biden administration has created vigorous standards to validate, not simply trust, American manufacturers, and it is essential that the exact same scrutiny is used to imported feedstocks," 6 U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, wrote in a June 20 letter to federal companies.

Another letter from 15 senators to the Treasury Department on July 30 advised 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)