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

Candelaria Gill edited this page 2025-01-11 23:39:40 +08:00

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has introduced examinations into the supply chains of a minimum of two eco-friendly fuel producers in the middle of industry concerns that some may be utilizing deceptive for biodiesel to secure lucrative federal government aids.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the firm has actually launched audits over the past year, but declined to recognize the companies targeted since the examinations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable ingredients, like used cooking oil, can earn refiners a slew of state and federal ecological and climate subsidies, including tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But fears have actually been installing that some materials labeled as utilized cooking oil are in fact less expensive and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is associated with deforestation and other ecological damage.

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

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

"EPA has actually conducted audits of renewable fuel manufacturers given that July 2023 which consists of, to name a few things, an examination of the places that used cooking oil utilized in renewable fuel production was gathered," he stated. "These investigations, nevertheless, are ongoing and we are unable to talk about continuous enforcement investigations."

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

"The Biden administration has produced vigorous requirements to confirm, not simply trust, American manufacturers, and it is imperative that the very 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 urged the administration to exclude 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)