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

Karla Overton edited this page 2025-01-12 06:16:32 +00:00

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has actually launched examinations into the supply chains of a minimum of 2 sustainable fuel producers amid market concerns that some might be using fraudulent feedstocks for biodiesel to protect lucrative federal government subsidies.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the company has launched audits over the previous year, but decreased to determine the companies targeted because the examinations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable ingredients, like utilized cooking oil, can make refiners a slew of state and federal ecological and climate subsidies, 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 used cooking oil are really less expensive and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is related to deforestation and other environmental damage.

The problem entered focus following a rise in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia in the last few years that analysts have stated involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil used and recuperated in the area. The European Union is likewise investigating feedstocks over the fraud concerns.

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

"EPA has actually performed audits of renewable fuel manufacturers because July 2023 that includes, among other things, an evaluation of the locations that utilized cooking oil used in renewable fuel production was gathered," he stated. "These examinations, however, are ongoing and we are unable to talk about continuous enforcement investigations."

U.S. senators from farm states have called for more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, saying federal agencies ought to be as rigorous in confirming imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.

"The Biden administration has actually produced vigorous standards to verify, not just trust, American manufacturers, and it is imperative that the exact same analysis is used 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 urged 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)