US EPA Says it is Auditing Biofuel Producers' used Cooking Oil Supply
By Leah Douglas
Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has launched examinations into the supply chains of a minimum of two eco-friendly fuel producers amidst market issues that some may be utilizing deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to secure profitable government aids.
EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the agency has actually released audits over the past year, however decreased to determine the business targeted since 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 aids, consisting of tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But fears 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 connected with logging and other ecological damage.
The issue entered into focus following a rise in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia recently that experts have actually stated includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil utilized and recovered in the region. The European Union is likewise examining feedstocks over the fraud issues.
The EPA audits started after the company 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 carried out audits of eco-friendly fuel producers given that July 2023 which consists of, amongst other things, an assessment of the areas that used cooking oil used in renewable fuel production was gathered," he said. "These examinations, however, 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 firms need to be as rigorous in confirming imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.
"The Biden administration has actually created vigorous requirements to validate, not simply trust, American manufacturers, and it is necessary that the very 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 extra tidy fuel tax credit program passed in the Reduction Act. (Reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Matthew Lewis)