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

Ward Baldwinson edited this page 2025-01-11 21:58:05 +08:00

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has actually released examinations into the supply chains of a minimum of two renewable fuel producers amidst industry issues that some may be using deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to protect rewarding government aids.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the firm has introduced audits over the previous year, however decreased to determine the companies targeted due to the fact that the examinations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable components, like used cooking oil, can make refiners a variety of state and federal environmental and climate aids, consisting of tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But worries have been installing that some supplies identified as used cooking oil are actually cheaper and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is associated with deforestation and other environmental damage.

The problem entered into focus following a surge in used cooking oil exports from Asia over the last few years that experts have said includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil used and recovered in the area. The European Union is also over the scams issues.

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

"EPA has actually performed audits of sustainable fuel manufacturers because July 2023 that includes, among other things, an assessment of the locations that utilized cooking oil utilized in eco-friendly fuel production was gathered," he stated. "These investigations, however, are continuous and we are unable to talk about continuous enforcement examinations."

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

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

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