US EPA Says it is Auditing Biofuel Producers’ Secondhand Cooking Oil Supply
By Leah Douglas
Aug 7 (Reuters) – The U.S. Epa has released investigations into the supply chains of a minimum of two eco-friendly fuel manufacturers amidst market issues that some may be using deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to protect financially rewarding federal government aids.
EPA representative Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the firm has released audits over the past year, but decreased to identify the companies targeted due to the fact that the examinations are ongoing.
The production of biodiesel from sustainable components, like used cooking oil, can earn refiners a slew of state and federal ecological and environment aids, consisting of tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But fears have been installing that some materials identified as used cooking oil are actually cheaper and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is associated with deforestation and other environmental damage.
The problem came into focus following a surge in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia over the last few years that analysts have stated involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil used and recovered in the region. The European Union is likewise examining feedstocks over the fraud concerns.
The EPA audits began after the company updated domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for renewable fuel manufacturers seeking to earn credits under the RFS, he said.
« EPA has actually conducted audits of eco-friendly fuel producers given that July 2023 that includes, to name a few things, an evaluation of the areas that utilized cooking oil used in eco-friendly fuel production was gathered, » he said. « These investigations, nevertheless, are ongoing and we are unable to talk about ongoing enforcement examinations. »
U.S. senators from farm states have actually required more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, stating federal firms need to be as strenuous in verifying imports as they are supply chains.
« The Biden administration has developed vigorous standards to confirm, not just trust, American producers, and it is crucial that the very same scrutiny is applied to imported feedstocks, » 6 U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, composed in a June 20 letter to federal agencies.
Another letter from 15 senators to the Treasury Department on July 30 advised the administration to exclude imported feedstocks like UCO from an additional tidy fuel tax credit program passed in the Inflation Reduction Act. (Reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Matthew Lewis)
