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

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has actually launched examinations into the supply chains of a minimum of two eco-friendly fuel producers in the middle of industry concerns that some might be using deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to protect financially rewarding government aids.

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

The production of biodiesel from sustainable ingredients, like used cooking oil, can make refiners a variety of state and federal ecological and environment subsidies, consisting of tradable credits under a by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But fears have been installing that some materials identified as utilized cooking oil are in fact more affordable and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is associated with deforestation and other environmental damage.

The concern came into focus following a surge in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia in recent years that analysts 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 issues.

The EPA audits began after the firm 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 sustainable fuel manufacturers given that July 2023 which consists of, among other things, an examination of the areas that used cooking oil used in renewable fuel production was collected," he said. "These investigations, nevertheless, are continuous and we are not able to talk about ongoing enforcement examinations."

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

"The Biden administration has actually created vigorous standards to validate, not simply trust, American manufacturers, and it is imperative 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 firms.

Another letter from 15 senators to the Treasury Department on July 30 prompted the administration to omit 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)