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

Samira Flaherty edited this page 2025-01-12 14:28:47 +08:00

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has introduced examinations into the supply chains of at least two sustainable fuel manufacturers in the middle of industry concerns that some might be using fraudulent feedstocks for biodiesel to protect rewarding government aids.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the company has actually launched audits over the past year, however declined to recognize the business targeted since the investigations are ongoing.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable active ingredients, like used cooking oil, can earn refiners a multitude of state and federal ecological and environment aids, including tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But worries have actually been mounting that some materials identified as utilized cooking oil are actually cheaper and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is associated with deforestation and other ecological damage.

The concern entered focus following a surge in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia recently that experts have actually said includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil utilized and recuperated in the region. The European Union is also examining feedstocks over the scams concerns.

The EPA audits started after the firm updated domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for renewable fuel producers seeking to earn credits under the RFS, he said.

"EPA has actually performed audits of eco-friendly fuel manufacturers given that July 2023 that includes, to name a few things, an assessment of the areas that used cooking oil used in sustainable fuel production was collected," he stated. "These examinations, nevertheless, are ongoing and we are not able to go over ongoing enforcement examinations."

U.S. senators from farm states have required more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, stating federal agencies must be as extensive in validating imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.

"The Biden administration has actually developed energetic standards to validate, not simply trust, American producers, and it is necessary that the exact same scrutiny is applied to imported feedstocks," six 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 prompted the administration to exclude imported 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)