1 US EPA Says it is Auditing Biofuel Producers' Pre-owned Cooking Oil Supply

Lanora Dettmann edited this page 2025-01-12 00:41:07 +00:00

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has released investigations into the supply chains of at least two sustainable fuel producers amid industry concerns that some might be using deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to protect financially rewarding federal government subsidies.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the company has actually introduced audits over the previous year, however decreased to determine the companies targeted because the examinations are ongoing.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable active ingredients, like utilized cooking oil, can earn refiners a multitude of state and federal ecological and environment aids, consisting of tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But worries have been mounting that some supplies labeled as used cooking oil are in fact cheaper and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is related to deforestation and other environmental damage.

The concern came into focus following a rise in used cooking oil exports from Asia over the last few years that experts have actually stated 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 issues.

The EPA audits began after the agency updated domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for sustainable fuel manufacturers seeking to earn credits under the RFS, he said.

"EPA has performed audits of renewable fuel producers because July 2023 which consists of, among other things, an assessment of the locations that utilized cooking oil used in renewable fuel production was collected," he said. "These investigations, nevertheless, are continuous and we are unable to discuss continuous enforcement investigations."

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

"The Biden administration has produced vigorous requirements to verify, not just trust, American manufacturers, and it is necessary that the exact 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 companies.

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