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

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By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has actually launched examinations into the supply chains of a minimum of two sustainable fuel producers amidst industry concerns that some might be utilizing deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to secure lucrative federal government aids.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the company has released audits over the past year, however to determine the business targeted because the examinations are continuous.

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

The concern entered into focus following a rise in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia recently that experts have actually said involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil utilized and recovered in the area. The European Union is likewise investigating feedstocks over the fraud concerns.

The EPA audits started after the company 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 carried out audits of sustainable fuel manufacturers given that July 2023 that includes, among other things, an examination of the areas that utilized cooking oil used in sustainable fuel production was collected," he stated. "These investigations, nevertheless, are ongoing and we are not able to discuss continuous enforcement examinations."

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

"The Biden administration has created energetic standards to confirm, not simply trust, American manufacturers, and it is crucial that the same analysis is used to imported feedstocks," 6 U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, wrote in a June 20 letter to federal agencies.

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