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

Cecelia Reddick edited this page 2025-01-12 06:24:35 +08:00

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has introduced investigations into the supply chains of at least 2 sustainable fuel producers amid market issues that some might be utilizing deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to protect financially rewarding government subsidies.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the agency has released audits over the previous year, but declined to recognize the business targeted due to the fact that the investigations are ongoing.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable active ingredients, like used cooking oil, can earn refiners a variety of state and federal environmental and climate aids, including tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But fears have actually been installing that some materials labeled as used cooking oil are really less expensive and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is with logging and other ecological damage.

The concern entered focus following a rise in used cooking oil exports from Asia recently that experts have stated includes 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 started after the agency updated domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for eco-friendly fuel manufacturers looking for to earn credits under the RFS, he said.

"EPA has actually carried out audits of eco-friendly fuel producers since July 2023 which consists of, to name a few things, an assessment of the locations that used cooking oil utilized in eco-friendly fuel production was collected," he stated. "These examinations, however, are ongoing and we are unable to go over ongoing enforcement investigations."

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

"The Biden administration has produced energetic standards to confirm, not simply trust, American manufacturers, and it is vital that the exact 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 prompted the administration to leave out 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)