US EPA Says it is Auditing Biofuel Producers' used Cooking Oil Supply
By Leah Douglas
Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has actually launched examinations into the supply chains of at least 2 sustainable fuel manufacturers amid market concerns that some might be utilizing deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to secure rewarding federal government subsidies.
EPA representative Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the agency has released audits over the previous year, however declined to recognize the business targeted since the investigations are continuous.
The production of biodiesel from sustainable ingredients, like utilized cooking oil, can make refiners a slew 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 been installing that some products identified as used cooking oil are really cheaper and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is related to logging and other ecological damage.
The issue entered focus following a rise in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia over the last few years that analysts have actually said involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil utilized and recovered in the region. The European Union is also investigating feedstocks over the fraud issues.
The EPA audits started after the agency upgraded domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for sustainable fuel manufacturers looking for to earn credits under the RFS, he stated.
"EPA has conducted audits of eco-friendly fuel manufacturers because July 2023 which consists of, to name a few things, an evaluation of the areas that used cooking oil used in sustainable fuel production was gathered," he said. "These examinations, however, are continuous and we are not able to go over ongoing enforcement investigations."
U.S. senators from farm states have actually called for more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, stating federal agencies must be as strenuous in confirming imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.
"The Biden administration has created vigorous standards to validate, not just trust, American producers, and it is important that the very same scrutiny is used to imported feedstocks," 6 U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, composed in a June 20 letter to federal agencies.
Another letter from 15 to the Treasury Department on July 30 advised the administration to omit imported feedstocks like UCO from an extra clean fuel tax credit program passed in the Inflation Reduction Act. (Reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Matthew Lewis)