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

Bridgette Zapata edited this page 2025-01-11 04:06:33 +03:00

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has launched investigations into the supply chains of at least two sustainable fuel producers amidst market issues that some might be using fraudulent feedstocks for biodiesel to secure financially rewarding federal government aids.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the company has released audits over the past year, however decreased to recognize the business targeted due to the fact that the examinations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable ingredients, like utilized cooking oil, can earn 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 worries have actually been installing that some supplies labeled as used cooking oil are really more affordable and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is associated with and other environmental damage.

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

The EPA audits began 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 actually performed audits of sustainable fuel manufacturers given that July 2023 which consists of, amongst other things, an examination of the places that used cooking oil utilized in eco-friendly fuel production was gathered," he stated. "These examinations, however, are ongoing and we are not able to discuss ongoing enforcement examinations."

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

"The Biden administration has produced energetic requirements to verify, not simply trust, American manufacturers, and it is vital that the exact same examination is applied 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 prompted 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)