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

Christine Smart edited this page 2025-01-13 13:54:56 +08:00

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has actually released investigations into the supply chains of at least 2 eco-friendly fuel manufacturers amidst industry issues that some may be using deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to protect rewarding government subsidies.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the firm has actually released audits over the previous year, however declined to identify the companies targeted since the investigations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable ingredients, like utilized cooking oil, can make refiners a variety of state and federal environmental and climate aids, including tradable credits under a by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But worries have actually been mounting that some products labeled as utilized cooking oil are in fact cheaper and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is connected with logging and other ecological damage.

The issue entered into focus following a rise in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia in current years that experts have said 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 scams concerns.

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

"EPA has conducted audits of sustainable fuel manufacturers since July 2023 that includes, to name a few things, an evaluation of the places that utilized cooking oil used 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 agencies need to be as extensive in validating imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.

"The Biden administration has actually developed energetic requirements to verify, not just trust, American producers, and it is vital that the same analysis is used to imported feedstocks," 6 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 prompted the administration to exclude imported feedstocks like UCO from an additional tidy fuel tax credit program passed in the Inflation Reduction Act. (Reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Matthew Lewis)