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

Swen Betche edited this page 5 months ago

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has released examinations into the supply chains of at least two renewable fuel producers amid market issues that some may be utilizing deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to protect profitable federal government aids.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the firm has introduced audits over the past year, however declined to identify the business targeted since the investigations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable ingredients, like utilized cooking oil, can earn refiners a slew of state and federal ecological and environment aids, including tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But worries have actually been mounting that some materials identified as used cooking oil are really more affordable and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is related to deforestation and other environmental damage.

The issue entered focus following a rise in used cooking oil exports from Asia in current years that analysts have said includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil utilized and recovered in the area. The European Union is also examining feedstocks over the fraud concerns.

The EPA audits started after the company updated domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for sustainable fuel producers seeking to earn credits under the RFS, he stated.

"EPA has actually carried out audits of eco-friendly fuel manufacturers given that July 2023 which consists of, among other things, an evaluation of the locations that used cooking oil used in eco-friendly fuel production was collected," he stated. "These examinations, nevertheless, are continuous and we are not able to discuss continuous enforcement examinations."

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

"The Biden administration has actually developed vigorous standards to confirm, not simply trust, American producers, and it is essential that the 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 agencies.

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 clean fuel tax credit program passed in the Act. (Reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Matthew Lewis)