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

Stevie Vrooman edited this page 2025-01-12 05:07:40 +01:00

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has actually launched investigations into the supply chains of at least two renewable fuel producers amidst market concerns that some may be utilizing deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to secure rewarding federal government subsidies.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the agency has actually introduced audits over the previous year, however decreased to identify the business targeted due to the fact that the examinations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable ingredients, like used cooking oil, can earn refiners a multitude of state and federal ecological and environment 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 products labeled as utilized cooking oil are actually less expensive and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is associated with deforestation and other environmental damage.

The issue entered focus following a rise in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia recently that experts have actually stated includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil utilized and recovered in the area. The European Union is also investigating feedstocks over the fraud concerns.

The EPA audits started after the agency upgraded accounting requirements in July 2023 for renewable fuel producers seeking to earn credits under the RFS, he stated.

"EPA has actually conducted audits of sustainable fuel producers because July 2023 that includes, amongst other things, an evaluation of the places that used cooking oil utilized in renewable fuel production was collected," he said. "These examinations, nevertheless, are ongoing and we are unable to go over ongoing enforcement examinations."

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

"The Biden administration has actually developed energetic standards to validate, not just trust, American producers, and it is essential that the very same analysis 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 exclude imported feedstocks like UCO from an additional tidy fuel tax credit program passed in the Inflation Reduction Act. (Reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Matthew Lewis)