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

Cliff Ashworth edited this page 2025-01-13 19:42:48 +08:00

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has actually launched investigations into the supply chains of a minimum of two renewable fuel manufacturers amid market issues that some may be using deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to protect profitable federal government subsidies.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the company has actually introduced audits over the past year, but decreased to determine the business targeted because the investigations are ongoing.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable active ingredients, like utilized cooking oil, can make refiners a slew of state and federal ecological and aids, consisting of tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But worries have actually been installing that some supplies identified as used cooking oil are in fact cheaper and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is associated with logging and other environmental damage.

The concern came into focus following a rise in used cooking oil exports from Asia over the last few years that experts have actually said includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil utilized and recovered in the area. The European Union is likewise investigating 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 make credits under the RFS, he said.

"EPA has carried out audits of sustainable fuel producers since July 2023 which includes, amongst other things, an examination of the locations that used cooking oil used in sustainable fuel production was collected," he stated. "These investigations, nevertheless, are ongoing and we are not able to discuss continuous enforcement investigations."

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

"The Biden administration has developed vigorous standards to confirm, not simply trust, American manufacturers, and it is essential that the very same scrutiny is used to imported feedstocks," 6 U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, wrote in a June 20 letter to federal companies.

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