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

Gloria Blakely edited this page 2025-01-13 11:14:42 -06:00

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has actually released examinations into the supply chains of at least two sustainable fuel producers amidst industry concerns that some may be utilizing fraudulent feedstocks for biodiesel to secure financially rewarding government subsidies.

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

The production of biodiesel from components, like utilized cooking oil, can earn refiners a multitude of state and federal environmental and environment aids, including tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But worries have been installing that some supplies identified as utilized cooking oil are in fact cheaper and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is connected with logging and other environmental damage.

The issue entered into focus following a surge in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia recently that analysts have stated involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil used and recovered in the region. The European Union is also examining feedstocks over the scams issues.

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

"EPA has actually carried out audits of renewable fuel manufacturers since July 2023 that includes, to name a few things, an examination of the areas that used cooking oil used in sustainable fuel production was gathered," he said. "These investigations, nevertheless, are continuous and we are not able to talk about ongoing enforcement investigations."

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

"The Biden administration has produced energetic standards to validate, not just trust, American manufacturers, and it is imperative that the very same examination is applied to imported feedstocks," 6 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 advised the administration to leave out 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)