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

Justina Marrufo edited this page 2025-01-18 11:46:23 +08:00

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has introduced examinations into the supply chains of a minimum of two renewable fuel producers amid market concerns that some might be using fraudulent feedstocks for biodiesel to protect lucrative government subsidies.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the firm has actually released audits over the previous year, however decreased to recognize the companies targeted due to the fact that the investigations are ongoing.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable components, like used cooking oil, can make refiners a multitude of state and federal environmental and climate subsidies, including tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But fears have actually been installing that some supplies labeled as utilized cooking oil are actually less expensive and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is associated with deforestation and other ecological damage.

The problem came into focus following a rise in used cooking oil exports from Asia in recent years that experts have stated involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil utilized and recovered in the area. The European Union is likewise investigating feedstocks over the fraud issues.

The EPA audits started after the company updated domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for renewable fuel producers seeking to make credits under the RFS, he stated.

"EPA has actually carried out audits of renewable fuel manufacturers considering that July 2023 that includes, among other things, an assessment of the areas that used cooking oil utilized in sustainable fuel production was collected," he stated. "These examinations, however, are continuous and we are not able to discuss continuous enforcement examinations."

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

"The Biden administration has actually created vigorous requirements to confirm, not just trust, American manufacturers, and it is crucial that the very same analysis is used 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 leave out imported feedstocks like UCO from an fuel tax credit program passed in the Inflation Reduction Act. (Reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Matthew Lewis)