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

Kattie Palma edited this page 2025-01-18 13:15:57 +08:00

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has released investigations into the supply chains of a minimum of 2 sustainable fuel producers amid industry issues that some may be using fraudulent feedstocks for biodiesel to secure financially federal government aids.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the agency has released audits over the past year, but decreased to determine the companies targeted because the investigations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable components, like utilized cooking oil, can earn refiners a slew of state and federal ecological and environment subsidies, consisting of tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But fears have actually been installing that some supplies identified as utilized cooking oil are actually more affordable and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is connected with 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 actually stated involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil used and recuperated in the area. The European Union is likewise investigating feedstocks over the scams issues.

The EPA audits began after the firm upgraded domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for eco-friendly fuel producers looking for to make credits under the RFS, he stated.

"EPA has actually carried out audits of eco-friendly fuel manufacturers because July 2023 which consists of, amongst other things, an evaluation of the areas that utilized cooking oil utilized in eco-friendly fuel production was gathered," he said. "These examinations, nevertheless, are continuous and we are unable to go over ongoing enforcement examinations."

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

"The Biden administration has actually produced energetic standards to validate, not just trust, American manufacturers, and it is crucial that the exact same analysis is applied to imported feedstocks," six U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, composed in a June 20 letter to federal agencies.

Another letter from 15 senators to the Treasury Department on July 30 prompted the administration to omit 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)