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

Adeline Shirk edited this page 2025-01-11 13:23:20 +00:00

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 manufacturers in the middle of market concerns that some may be using fraudulent feedstocks for biodiesel to secure rewarding federal government subsidies.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the agency has actually introduced audits over the previous year, but declined to recognize the companies targeted due to the fact that the investigations are ongoing.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable ingredients, like used cooking oil, can earn refiners a slew of state and federal ecological and climate aids, including tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Standard. But fears have been installing that some materials labeled as used cooking oil are in fact more affordable and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is associated with deforestation and other ecological damage.

The problem came into focus following a surge in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia recently that experts have said involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil used and recovered in the area. The European Union is also examining feedstocks over the scams issues.

The EPA audits started after the firm 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 conducted audits of sustainable fuel manufacturers since July 2023 which consists of, among other things, an examination of the places that utilized cooking oil utilized in renewable fuel production was collected," he said. "These examinations, nevertheless, are ongoing and we are unable to talk about ongoing enforcement examinations."

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

"The Biden administration has produced energetic standards to validate, not just trust, American producers, and it is vital that the same analysis is used to imported feedstocks," 6 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 leave out imported feedstocks like UCO from an extra clean fuel tax credit program passed in the Inflation Reduction Act. (Reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Matthew Lewis)