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

Sheila Whitlam edited this page 2025-01-10 15:27:04 +03:00

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 eco-friendly fuel producers amidst market concerns that some may be using fraudulent feedstocks for biodiesel to secure lucrative federal .

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the firm has introduced audits over the past year, but declined to recognize the companies targeted because the examinations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable components, like used cooking oil, can earn refiners a variety of state and federal ecological and environment subsidies, 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 less expensive and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is associated with deforestation and other environmental damage.

The concern came into focus following a rise in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia recently that experts have stated involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil utilized and recovered in the region. The European Union is likewise investigating feedstocks over the scams issues.

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

"EPA has performed audits of sustainable fuel producers considering that July 2023 which includes, amongst other things, an assessment of the locations that used cooking oil used in renewable fuel production was gathered," he stated. "These investigations, nevertheless, are continuous and we are not able to talk about continuous enforcement investigations."

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

"The Biden administration has produced energetic standards to confirm, not simply trust, American producers, and it is essential that the very same analysis is applied to imported feedstocks," six U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, composed in a June 20 letter to federal agencies.

Another letter from 15 senators to the Treasury Department on July 30 urged the administration to exclude 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)