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

nathanwhitmer8 edited this page 2025-01-12 07:26:48 +08:00

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has introduced examinations into the supply chains of a minimum of 2 renewable fuel manufacturers amidst industry issues that some might be utilizing deceptive feedstocks for to secure profitable government aids.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the agency has actually released audits over the previous year, but decreased to determine the business targeted since the examinations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable active ingredients, like utilized cooking oil, can earn refiners a variety of state and federal ecological and environment aids, including tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But worries have been mounting that some materials identified as utilized cooking oil are in fact less expensive and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is associated with deforestation and other environmental damage.

The problem came into focus following a rise in used cooking oil exports from Asia in the last few years that analysts have stated involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil used and recuperated in the region. The European Union is likewise examining feedstocks over the fraud issues.

The EPA audits started after the company upgraded domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for renewable fuel manufacturers looking for to make credits under the RFS, he said.

"EPA has actually conducted audits of sustainable fuel producers given that July 2023 that includes, to name a few things, an assessment of the locations that utilized cooking oil used in renewable fuel production was gathered," he said. "These investigations, nevertheless, are ongoing and we are unable to discuss ongoing enforcement investigations."

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

"The Biden administration has produced energetic requirements to verify, not just trust, American manufacturers, and it is important that the exact same scrutiny 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)