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

Fran Eskridge edited this page 2025-01-12 01:59:01 +08:00

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has released investigations into the supply chains of at least 2 renewable fuel manufacturers amid market concerns that some may be using deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to secure rewarding federal government subsidies.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the firm has introduced audits over the previous year, however declined to recognize the business targeted due to the fact that the examinations are ongoing.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable ingredients, like utilized cooking oil, can earn refiners a slew of state and federal ecological and environment aids, including tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But worries have been mounting that some products identified as utilized cooking oil are actually cheaper and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is connected with logging and other ecological damage.

The problem entered into focus following a surge in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia over the last few years that analysts have actually said includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil used and recovered in the area. The is likewise examining feedstocks over the fraud issues.

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

"EPA has conducted audits of renewable fuel manufacturers because July 2023 that includes, to name a few things, an evaluation of the locations that used cooking oil used in sustainable fuel production was gathered," he stated. "These investigations, however, are ongoing and we are unable to discuss continuous enforcement examinations."

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

"The Biden administration has created energetic requirements to verify, not just trust, American manufacturers, and it is imperative that the exact 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)