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

Helena Laster edited this page 2025-01-13 21:30:27 +00:00

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Agency has actually released investigations into the supply chains of a minimum of two sustainable fuel producers amid industry concerns that some may be utilizing fraudulent feedstocks for biodiesel to protect profitable federal government aids.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the company has actually launched audits over the previous year, however declined to identify the business targeted due to the fact that the examinations are ongoing.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable components, like utilized cooking oil, can make refiners a variety of state and federal ecological and climate aids, consisting of tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But fears have been installing that some products identified as used cooking oil are really cheaper and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is related to deforestation and other environmental damage.

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

The EPA audits started after the firm updated domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for renewable fuel manufacturers looking for to earn credits under the RFS, he stated.

"EPA has carried out audits of sustainable fuel producers because July 2023 which consists of, to name a few things, an examination of the places that used cooking oil used in eco-friendly fuel production was collected," he stated. "These examinations, nevertheless, are ongoing and we are unable to talk about ongoing enforcement investigations."

U.S. senators from farm states have actually called for more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, saying federal agencies must be as strenuous in validating imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.

"The Biden administration has developed vigorous requirements to verify, not just trust, American manufacturers, and it is imperative 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 urged the administration to omit 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)