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

Clay Kasper edited this page 2025-01-12 06:44:25 +01:00

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has launched examinations into the supply chains of at least two sustainable fuel producers in the middle of industry concerns that some might be utilizing fraudulent feedstocks for biodiesel to secure rewarding government aids.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the agency has launched audits over the past year, but declined to identify the business targeted since the examinations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable ingredients, like used cooking oil, can make refiners a variety of state and federal ecological and environment subsidies, including tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But fears have actually been installing that some products identified as used cooking oil are in fact cheaper and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is connected with deforestation and other ecological damage.

The concern came into focus following a surge in used cooking oil exports from Asia over the last few years that experts have actually stated involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil utilized and recuperated in the region. The European Union is also investigating feedstocks over the fraud concerns.

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

"EPA has actually carried out audits of eco-friendly fuel producers because July 2023 that includes, to name a few things, an examination of the locations that utilized cooking oil utilized in renewable fuel production was gathered," he stated. "These examinations, nevertheless, are ongoing and we are unable to talk about continuous enforcement investigations."

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

"The Biden administration has actually created energetic requirements to verify, not just trust, American manufacturers, and it is necessary that the very 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 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 clean fuel tax credit program passed in the Inflation Reduction Act. (Reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Matthew Lewis)