US EPA Says It Is Auditing Biofuel Producers Secondhand Cooking Oil Supply
By Leah Douglas
Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Agency has launched investigations into the supply chains of at least two eco-friendly fuel producers amidst industry concerns that some might be using deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to protect profitable government subsidies.
EPA representative Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the firm has launched audits over the past year, however decreased to determine the companies targeted due to the fact that the investigations are continuous.
The production of biodiesel from sustainable components, like utilized cooking oil, can make refiners a variety of state and federal environmental and climate subsidies, consisting of tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But worries have been mounting that some materials labeled as used cooking oil are actually cheaper and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is related to logging and other environmental damage.
The problem entered focus following a surge in used cooking oil exports from Asia over the last few years that experts have said involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil used and recovered in the area. The European Union is also examining feedstocks over the scams concerns.
The EPA audits started after the agency upgraded domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for sustainable fuel manufacturers seeking to earn credits under the RFS, he stated.
"EPA has actually conducted audits of eco-friendly fuel producers given that July 2023 which consists of, to name a few things, an assessment of the locations that utilized cooking oil used in sustainable fuel production was collected," he said. "These examinations, nevertheless, are ongoing and we are unable to discuss continuous enforcement examinations."
U.S. senators from farm states have actually required more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, saying federal agencies must be as rigorous in validating imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.
"The Biden administration has produced vigorous standards to validate, not just trust, American producers, and it is crucial that the exact same analysis is applied to imported feedstocks," 6 U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, composed in a June 20 letter to federal firms.
Another letter from 15 senators to the Treasury Department on July 30 urged the administration to exclude 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)
