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

Casimira Greer edited this page 2025-01-12 20:31:46 +08:00

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has introduced examinations into the supply chains of at least 2 eco-friendly fuel producers in the middle of market concerns that some may be using fraudulent feedstocks for biodiesel to secure lucrative federal government subsidies.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the company has actually released audits over the past year, but declined to determine the companies targeted because the investigations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable components, like used cooking oil, can make refiners a variety of state and federal environmental and climate subsidies, including tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But worries have been installing that some products labeled as used cooking oil are really cheaper and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is connected with logging and other ecological damage.

The problem came into focus following a surge in utilized cooking oil from Asia over the last few years that experts have actually said includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil used and recuperated in the area. The European Union is also examining feedstocks over the scams issues.

The EPA audits started after the company updated domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for sustainable fuel manufacturers looking for to earn credits under the RFS, he stated.

"EPA has carried out audits of renewable fuel manufacturers since July 2023 that includes, to name a few things, an evaluation of the locations that utilized cooking oil utilized in renewable fuel production was gathered," he said. "These examinations, however, are ongoing and we are not able to discuss continuous enforcement investigations."

U.S. senators from farm states have required more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, saying federal companies must be as strenuous in confirming imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.

"The Biden administration has produced energetic standards to verify, not just trust, American manufacturers, and it is vital that the very same examination is used to imported feedstocks," six 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 leave out 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)