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

Chau Bumgarner edited this page 3 months ago

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has released investigations into the supply chains of at least 2 renewable fuel producers in the middle of market issues that some may be using deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to secure rewarding federal government aids.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the agency has introduced audits over the previous year, however declined to determine the business targeted due to the fact that the investigations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable components, like utilized cooking oil, can earn refiners a multitude of state and federal environmental 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 supplies identified as utilized cooking oil are really more affordable and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is connected with deforestation and other environmental damage.

The concern entered into focus following a rise in used cooking oil exports from Asia recently that experts have said involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil utilized and recovered in the area. The European Union is likewise investigating feedstocks over the fraud issues.

The EPA audits began 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 conducted audits of renewable fuel producers because July 2023 which consists of, to name a few things, an assessment of the areas that utilized cooking oil utilized in renewable fuel production was gathered," he said. "These examinations, nevertheless, are continuous and we are not able to talk about ongoing enforcement examinations."

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

"The Biden administration has actually developed energetic standards to verify, not just trust, American producers, and it is necessary that the exact same scrutiny is applied to imported feedstocks," 6 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 advised the administration to exclude imported feedstocks like UCO from an additional tidy fuel tax credit program passed in the Inflation Act. (Reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Matthew Lewis)