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

Dolly Leong edited this page 4 months ago

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has actually introduced examinations into the supply chains of a minimum of 2 renewable fuel producers in the middle of market concerns that some may be using deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to secure financially rewarding government subsidies.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the agency has launched audits over the past year, however declined to identify the companies targeted since the investigations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable components, like utilized cooking oil, can earn refiners a slew of state and federal environmental and climate subsidies, including tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But worries have actually been installing that some materials identified as utilized cooking oil are really cheaper and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is associated with deforestation and other ecological damage.

The issue entered focus following a rise in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia in recent years that analysts have stated includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity 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 firm upgraded domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for renewable fuel producers seeking to earn credits under the RFS, he said.

"EPA has actually conducted audits of renewable fuel producers since July 2023 that includes, among other things, an evaluation of the areas that utilized cooking oil utilized in renewable fuel production was collected," he said. "These examinations, however, are continuous and we are unable to go over ongoing enforcement investigations."

U.S. senators from farm states have required more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, saying federal agencies need to be as strenuous in validating imports as they are auditing chains.

"The Biden administration has actually created energetic standards to confirm, not just trust, American producers, and it is crucial that the very same analysis 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 advised 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)