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

randellaplin51 edited this page 2025-01-17 18:33:35 +00:00

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has launched investigations into the supply chains of at least 2 eco-friendly fuel manufacturers amidst industry issues that some might be utilizing deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to protect financially rewarding government subsidies.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis told that the company has released audits over the past year, however declined to recognize the companies targeted because the investigations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable active ingredients, like used cooking oil, can make refiners a slew 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 been installing that some supplies labeled as utilized cooking oil are actually cheaper and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is related to logging and other environmental damage.

The issue came into focus following a surge in used cooking oil exports from Asia in the last few years that experts have actually said involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil used and recovered in the region. The European Union is likewise examining feedstocks over the fraud concerns.

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

"EPA has conducted audits of sustainable fuel manufacturers considering that July 2023 which consists of, among other things, an evaluation of the locations that used cooking oil used in eco-friendly fuel production was collected," he said. "These examinations, nevertheless, are continuous and we are unable to talk about continuous enforcement investigations."

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

"The Biden administration has produced vigorous standards to verify, not just trust, American producers, and it is vital that the very same examination is used to imported feedstocks," six U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, composed in a June 20 letter to federal companies.

Another letter from 15 senators to the Treasury Department on July 30 prompted the administration to omit imported feedstocks like UCO from an additional clean fuel tax credit program passed in the Inflation Reduction Act. (Reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Matthew Lewis)