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

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has actually into the supply chains of at least two sustainable fuel manufacturers amid industry concerns that some might be utilizing deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to protect lucrative federal government aids.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the agency has introduced audits over the past year, however decreased to determine the business targeted due to the fact that the examinations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable components, like utilized cooking oil, can earn refiners a slew of state and federal environmental and environment aids, including tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But worries have actually been installing that some products labeled as utilized cooking oil are really cheaper and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is associated with deforestation and other ecological damage.

The issue entered focus following a rise in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia in the last few years that experts have actually said involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil used and recuperated in the area. The European Union is likewise investigating feedstocks over the scams issues.

The EPA audits started after the agency updated domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for eco-friendly fuel producers seeking to earn credits under the RFS, he stated.

"EPA has actually conducted audits of eco-friendly fuel manufacturers given that July 2023 that includes, amongst other things, an evaluation of the places that utilized cooking oil used in sustainable fuel production was collected," he said. "These investigations, nevertheless, are continuous and we are unable to talk about ongoing enforcement investigations."

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

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

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