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

Regan Shuman edited this page 2025-01-12 11:36:24 +08:00

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has introduced investigations into the supply chains of at least two eco-friendly fuel manufacturers amidst market issues that some might be using deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to secure financially rewarding federal government subsidies.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the agency has released audits over the past year, but decreased to determine the companies targeted since the examinations are ongoing.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable active ingredients, like used cooking oil, can make refiners a slew of state and federal ecological and environment subsidies, consisting of tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But fears have been mounting that some supplies labeled as used cooking oil are actually cheaper and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is connected with logging and other environmental damage.

The concern entered focus following a surge in used cooking oil exports from Asia over the last few years that analysts have actually stated includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil used and recovered in the region. The European Union is likewise examining feedstocks over the fraud concerns.

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

"EPA has actually performed audits of renewable fuel manufacturers given that July 2023 that includes, to name a few things, an evaluation of the areas that utilized cooking oil used in sustainable fuel production was collected," he said. "These investigations, nevertheless, are continuous and we are not able to talk about ongoing enforcement investigations."

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

"The Biden administration has produced energetic requirements to confirm, not just trust, American manufacturers, and it is crucial that the exact same scrutiny is used to imported feedstocks," six U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, wrote 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 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)