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

Kristi Chow edited this page 2025-01-18 08:19:24 +08:00

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has actually released investigations into the supply chains of a minimum of 2 sustainable fuel manufacturers amidst market issues that some might be using deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to protect financially rewarding federal government subsidies.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the company has released audits over the past year, however decreased to recognize the business targeted due to the fact that the investigations are ongoing.

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

The issue came into focus following a rise in used cooking oil exports from Asia recently that experts have actually said involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil utilized and recovered in the area. The European Union is also examining feedstocks over the scams issues.

The EPA audits started after the company upgraded domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for sustainable fuel manufacturers looking for to earn credits under the RFS, he said.

"EPA has actually carried out audits of eco-friendly fuel producers since July 2023 that includes, among other things, an evaluation of the locations that utilized cooking oil used in renewable fuel production was gathered," he said. "These investigations, nevertheless, are continuous and we are not able to go over continuous enforcement investigations."

U.S. senators from farm states have actually called for more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, saying federal agencies must be as strenuous in confirming imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.

"The Biden administration has actually developed vigorous standards to validate, not just trust, American producers, and it is important that the very same scrutiny is used to imported feedstocks," six 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 urged the administration to leave out 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)