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

Lukas McAdams edited this page 1 day ago

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has launched examinations into the supply chains of a minimum of 2 sustainable fuel producers amidst market issues that some may be utilizing deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to protect financially rewarding government aids.

Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the agency has launched audits over the previous year, but declined to identify the companies targeted since the investigations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable ingredients, like used cooking oil, can make refiners a slew of state and federal environmental and climate aids, including tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But worries have actually been mounting that some products identified as utilized cooking oil are in fact more affordable and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is connected with deforestation and other ecological damage.

The issue entered focus following a rise in used cooking oil exports from Asia in recent years that experts have stated includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil used and recovered in the region. The European Union is likewise examining feedstocks over the scams concerns.

The EPA audits started after the company upgraded 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 conducted audits of renewable fuel producers given that July 2023 which consists of, among other things, an evaluation of the locations that utilized cooking oil used in sustainable fuel production was collected," he stated. "These examinations, nevertheless, are continuous and we are not able to discuss continuous enforcement examinations."

U.S. senators from farm states have actually called for more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, saying federal firms ought to be as rigorous in verifying imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.

"The Biden administration has created vigorous standards to verify, not simply trust, American manufacturers, and it is essential that the very same scrutiny is used 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 leave out 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)