US EPA Says it is Auditing Biofuel Producers' used Cooking Oil Supply
By Leah Douglas
Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Agency has actually released examinations into the supply chains of a minimum of 2 eco-friendly fuel producers amidst market concerns that some might be using deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to secure financially rewarding government subsidies.
EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the agency has launched audits over the past year, but decreased to determine the business targeted since the investigations are continuous.
The production of biodiesel from sustainable active ingredients, 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 been installing that some supplies labeled as utilized cooking oil are in fact more affordable and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is connected with logging and other environmental damage.
The problem entered focus following a surge in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia recently that analysts have actually stated includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil used and recovered in the area. The European Union is likewise examining 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 seeking to earn credits under the RFS, he stated.
"EPA has actually conducted audits of eco-friendly fuel producers because July 2023 that includes, among other things, an examination of the locations that used cooking oil utilized in eco-friendly fuel production was gathered," he stated. "These examinations, nevertheless, are ongoing and we are not able to talk about continuous enforcement investigations."
U.S. senators from farm states have actually called for more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, stating federal companies should be as extensive in validating imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.
"The Biden administration has actually created vigorous requirements to confirm, not simply trust, American manufacturers, and it is necessary that the exact same examination is applied to imported feedstocks," six U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, composed in a June 20 letter to federal companies.
Another letter from 15 senators to the Treasury Department on July 30 prompted the administration to omit 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)