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

Hollis Kahle edited this page 2025-01-18 08:12:04 +08:00

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has released examinations into the supply chains of a minimum of 2 renewable fuel producers in the middle of industry issues that some may be utilizing deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to secure rewarding federal government subsidies.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the company has launched audits over the past year, however declined to identify the companies targeted due to the fact that the investigations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable ingredients, like utilized cooking oil, can make 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 fears have been installing that some materials labeled as utilized cooking oil are really cheaper and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is related to deforestation and other ecological damage.

The concern came into focus following a surge in used cooking oil exports from Asia in recent years that experts have said involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil used and recovered in the area. The European Union is also examining feedstocks over the scams concerns.

The EPA audits began after the company upgraded domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for renewable fuel manufacturers looking for to make credits under the RFS, he stated.

"EPA has actually carried out audits of sustainable fuel manufacturers considering that July 2023 that includes, amongst other things, an examination of the places that utilized cooking oil utilized in renewable fuel production was gathered," he said. "These investigations, nevertheless, are ongoing and we are unable to go over continuous enforcement examinations."

U.S. senators from farm states have required more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, stating federal companies should be as strenuous in validating imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.

"The Biden administration has actually developed vigorous requirements to validate, not simply trust, American producers, and it is crucial 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 extra clean fuel tax credit passed in the Inflation Reduction Act. (Reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Matthew Lewis)