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

Nicole Goforth edited this page 5 days ago

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has introduced examinations into the supply chains of a minimum of two eco-friendly fuel manufacturers in the middle of market concerns that some might be utilizing fraudulent feedstocks for biodiesel to protect profitable government aids.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the firm has released audits over the past year, but decreased to recognize the business targeted since the investigations are ongoing.

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

The issue came into focus following a rise in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia recently that experts have said 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 issues.

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

"EPA has actually performed audits of sustainable fuel producers given that July 2023 which includes, to name a few things, an examination of the locations that used cooking oil used in sustainable fuel production was gathered," he said. "These examinations, however, are continuous and we are not able to discuss ongoing enforcement examinations."

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

"The Biden administration has created energetic standards to verify, not just trust, American producers, and it is important that the exact same examination is applied to imported feedstocks," six U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and 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 leave out imported feedstocks like UCO from an additional tidy fuel tax credit program passed in the Inflation Reduction Act. (Reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Matthew Lewis)