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

Jarred Worgan edited this page 2025-01-12 04:46:55 +08:00

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has released investigations into the supply chains of at least 2 sustainable fuel manufacturers in the middle of market issues that some may be using deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to secure profitable federal government subsidies.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the firm has actually released audits over the previous year, however declined to determine the business targeted due to the fact that the investigations are ongoing.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable components, like utilized cooking oil, can make refiners a slew of state and federal environmental and environment subsidies, including 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 in fact cheaper and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is connected with logging and other environmental damage.

The problem came into focus following a rise in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia in the last few years that experts have stated includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil used and recovered in the region. The European Union is also examining feedstocks over the scams issues.

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

"EPA has actually conducted audits of sustainable fuel manufacturers since July 2023 which consists of, to name a few things, an assessment of the locations that used cooking oil used in eco-friendly fuel production was collected," he stated. "These investigations, however, are ongoing and we are unable to go over continuous enforcement examinations."

U.S. senators from farm states have required more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, stating federal firms ought to be as strenuous in verifying imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.

"The Biden administration has actually created energetic standards to verify, not simply trust, American producers, and it is crucial that the exact same analysis is used to imported feedstocks," 6 U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, wrote in a June 20 letter to federal agencies.

Another letter from 15 senators to the Treasury Department on July 30 urged the administration to exclude imported feedstocks like UCO from an extra clean fuel tax credit program passed in the Inflation Reduction Act. (Reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Matthew Lewis)