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

Judi Bright edited this page 4 weeks ago

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has actually launched investigations into the supply chains of at least 2 renewable fuel manufacturers amid market concerns that some may be using deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to protect lucrative government subsidies.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the firm has introduced audits over the past year, but to determine the companies targeted because the investigations are ongoing.

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

The issue came into focus following a surge in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia recently that experts have said involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil used and recuperated in the area. The European Union is also examining feedstocks over the fraud concerns.

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

"EPA has actually conducted audits of renewable fuel manufacturers since July 2023 that includes, amongst other things, an evaluation of the locations that utilized cooking oil utilized in eco-friendly fuel production was collected," he stated. "These investigations, however, are ongoing and we are not able to discuss ongoing enforcement examinations."

U.S. senators from farm states have called for more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, saying federal companies need to be as rigorous in validating imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.

"The Biden administration has created vigorous requirements to confirm, not simply trust, American producers, and it is important that the same scrutiny is used to imported feedstocks," six U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, composed in a June 20 letter to federal companies.

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)