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

Gaston Puckett edited this page 2025-01-17 12:14:03 -05:00

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has actually introduced investigations into the supply chains of a minimum of 2 sustainable fuel producers amidst market concerns that some may be using deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to protect rewarding federal government aids.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the company has over the past year, but decreased to determine the business targeted since the investigations are ongoing.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable active ingredients, like used cooking oil, can make refiners a variety of state and federal environmental and environment subsidies, consisting of tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But fears have actually been installing that some materials identified as used cooking oil are in fact more affordable and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is connected with logging and other ecological damage.

The problem came into focus following a rise in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia over the last few years that experts have stated includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil used and recuperated in the region. The European Union is likewise examining feedstocks over the fraud issues.

The EPA audits began after the company upgraded domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for sustainable fuel producers looking for to earn credits under the RFS, he said.

"EPA has actually carried out audits of sustainable fuel manufacturers considering that July 2023 which includes, to name a few things, an evaluation of the locations that used cooking oil used in eco-friendly fuel production was collected," he stated. "These investigations, nevertheless, are ongoing and we are unable to go over continuous enforcement investigations."

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

"The Biden administration has produced vigorous requirements to verify, not just trust, American producers, and it is vital that the same analysis is used to imported feedstocks," 6 U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, wrote in a June 20 letter to federal agencies.

Another letter from 15 senators to the Treasury Department on July 30 advised the administration to leave out 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)