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

Elizabeth Casillas edited this page 2025-01-12 09:10:59 +08:00

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has actually released investigations into the supply chains of a minimum of 2 renewable fuel manufacturers amid market concerns that some might be utilizing deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to protect rewarding government aids.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the firm has actually launched audits over the past year, however declined to identify the business targeted because the investigations are ongoing.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable active ingredients, like utilized 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 Renewable Fuel Standard. But worries have actually been that some products labeled as used cooking oil are actually cheaper and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is associated with deforestation and other ecological damage.

The problem entered into focus following a rise in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia recently that analysts have said involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil used and recovered in the region. The European Union is also investigating feedstocks over the scams concerns.

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

"EPA has performed audits of renewable fuel manufacturers given that July 2023 that includes, to name a few things, an examination of the areas that used cooking oil used in eco-friendly fuel production was gathered," he stated. "These examinations, nevertheless, are ongoing and we are unable to talk about continuous enforcement examinations."

U.S. senators 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 developed energetic standards to confirm, not simply trust, American manufacturers, and it is important that the same scrutiny is used to imported feedstocks," 6 U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, composed in a June 20 letter to federal firms.

Another letter from 15 senators to the Treasury Department on July 30 urged 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)