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

Lanora Dettmann edited this page 2025-01-12 02:36:21 +00:00

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has actually released examinations into the supply chains of a minimum of 2 sustainable fuel producers amidst market concerns that some might be utilizing deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to protect rewarding government aids.

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

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

The issue entered focus following a rise in used cooking oil exports from Asia in the last few years that analysts have actually stated involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil used and recuperated in the area. The European Union is likewise examining feedstocks over the fraud issues.

The EPA audits began after the agency upgraded domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for eco-friendly fuel producers looking for to make under the RFS, he said.

"EPA has performed audits of sustainable fuel manufacturers given that July 2023 which consists of, to name a few things, an examination of the locations that used cooking oil utilized in eco-friendly fuel production was collected," he said. "These investigations, nevertheless, are continuous and we are not able to go over continuous enforcement examinations."

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

"The Biden administration has actually produced energetic standards to validate, not just trust, American manufacturers, and it is imperative that the very same examination is applied to imported feedstocks," six U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, wrote in a June 20 letter to federal firms.

Another letter from 15 senators to the Treasury Department on July 30 advised the administration to exclude imported feedstocks like UCO from an additional clean fuel tax credit program passed in the Inflation Reduction Act. (Reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Matthew Lewis)