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

Karine Pinkston edited this page 2025-01-12 01:45:16 +00:00

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has launched examinations into the supply chains of a minimum of two eco-friendly fuel producers in the middle of industry concerns that some may be using deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to protect rewarding federal government aids.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the company has actually introduced audits over the past year, however declined to recognize the business targeted because the examinations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable active ingredients, like used cooking oil, can earn 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 mounting that some supplies identified as utilized cooking oil are actually cheaper and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is connected with logging and other environmental damage.

The problem came into 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 used and recovered in the area. The European Union is likewise investigating feedstocks over the scams concerns.

The EPA audits started after the firm updated domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for sustainable fuel manufacturers seeking to make credits under the RFS, he said.

"EPA has actually performed audits of renewable fuel manufacturers because July 2023 that includes, to name a few things, an assessment of the locations that used cooking oil utilized in sustainable fuel production was collected," he stated. "These investigations, however, are continuous and we are unable to go over continuous enforcement investigations."

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

"The Biden administration has developed vigorous requirements to verify, not simply trust, American manufacturers, and it is crucial that the exact same examination is used to imported feedstocks," six U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, wrote in a June 20 letter to federal companies.

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