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

Roslyn Frankland edited this page 2025-01-18 11:48:42 +08:00

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has actually into the supply chains of a minimum of two renewable fuel producers in the middle of market issues that some may be utilizing deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to protect financially rewarding government subsidies.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the company has actually launched audits over the past year, however declined to recognize the business targeted because the examinations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable components, like utilized cooking oil, can make refiners a variety of state and federal environmental and climate subsidies, consisting of tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But worries have been installing that some materials identified as used cooking oil are actually more affordable and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is related to logging and other ecological damage.

The problem came into focus following a rise in used cooking oil exports from Asia in recent years that analysts have said involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil utilized and recuperated in the region. The European Union is likewise investigating feedstocks over the scams concerns.

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

"EPA has actually carried out audits of renewable fuel producers because July 2023 which consists of, amongst other things, an evaluation of the locations that used cooking oil utilized in sustainable fuel production was collected," he said. "These examinations, however, are continuous and we are not able to go over continuous enforcement examinations."

U.S. senators from farm states have called for more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, stating federal agencies should be as rigorous in confirming imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.

"The Biden administration has actually developed vigorous requirements to confirm, not simply trust, American producers, and it is crucial that the exact same examination is used to imported feedstocks," six U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, composed in a June 20 letter to federal agencies.

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