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

Leandra Smithson edited this page 2025-01-12 05:47:47 +00:00

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has actually launched investigations into the supply chains of a minimum of 2 fuel manufacturers in the middle of industry issues that some may be using deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to secure financially rewarding federal government subsidies.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the firm has released audits over the previous year, but declined to identify the companies 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 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 supplies labeled as used cooking oil are actually less expensive and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is associated with deforestation and other environmental damage.

The problem entered into focus following a surge in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia recently that experts have said includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil used and recuperated in the region. The European Union is likewise investigating feedstocks over the fraud issues.

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

"EPA has performed audits of sustainable fuel producers considering that July 2023 that includes, among other things, an assessment of the places that used cooking oil utilized in renewable fuel production was gathered," he said. "These examinations, however, are ongoing 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, saying federal firms need to be as rigorous in verifying imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.

"The Biden administration has actually developed vigorous requirements to validate, not simply trust, American manufacturers, and it is necessary that the very same examination is applied to imported feedstocks," six U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, wrote in a June 20 letter to federal firms.

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