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

Adrianne Robeson edited this page 10 months ago

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has into the supply chains of at least two renewable fuel manufacturers amidst market concerns that some might be utilizing deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to protect profitable federal government subsidies.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the agency has launched audits over the past year, however decreased to identify the companies targeted due to the fact that the investigations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable active ingredients, like utilized cooking oil, can earn refiners a multitude of state and federal ecological and climate subsidies, consisting of tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But worries have been installing that some materials identified as used cooking oil are in fact less expensive and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is related to logging and other ecological damage.

The issue entered into focus following a surge in used cooking oil exports from Asia over the last few years that analysts have said involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil used and recuperated in the area. The European Union is also examining feedstocks over the fraud issues.

The EPA audits started after the firm updated domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for eco-friendly fuel manufacturers seeking to earn credits under the RFS, he said.

"EPA has performed audits of renewable fuel manufacturers since July 2023 that includes, to name a few things, an examination of the areas that used cooking oil used in sustainable fuel production was collected," he stated. "These investigations, nevertheless, are continuous and we are unable to go over continuous enforcement examinations."

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

"The Biden administration has produced vigorous standards to verify, not just trust, American producers, and it is imperative that the very same examination is applied to imported feedstocks," six 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 omit imported feedstocks like UCO from an extra tidy fuel tax credit program passed in the Inflation Reduction Act. (Reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Matthew Lewis)