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

Essie Euler edited this page 2025-01-11 22:03:26 +00:00

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has actually released investigations into the supply chains of a minimum of two sustainable fuel manufacturers in the middle of industry concerns that some may be utilizing fraudulent feedstocks for biodiesel to secure rewarding government subsidies.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the firm has actually launched audits over the past year, but decreased to determine the business targeted since the examinations are ongoing.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable ingredients, like utilized cooking oil, can make refiners a variety of state and federal environmental and climate aids, consisting of tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But worries have actually been installing that some supplies labeled as utilized cooking oil are in fact more affordable and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is associated with deforestation and other environmental damage.

The problem came into focus following a rise in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia recently that analysts have stated involves high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil utilized and recuperated in the region. The European Union is also investigating feedstocks over the fraud concerns.

The EPA audits started after the firm updated domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for sustainable fuel manufacturers looking for to earn credits under the RFS, he stated.

"EPA has actually conducted audits of sustainable fuel producers given that July 2023 that includes, to name a few things, an evaluation of the locations that used cooking oil used in sustainable fuel production was collected," he stated. "These examinations, nevertheless, are continuous and we are unable to talk about continuous enforcement investigations."

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

"The Biden administration has created energetic requirements to confirm, not simply trust, American producers, and it is essential that the exact same scrutiny is used to imported feedstocks," six U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, composed in a June 20 letter to federal agencies.

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