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

Tobias Llewelyn edited this page 2025-01-12 08:44:33 +08:00

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has actually released examinations into the supply chains of at least 2 eco-friendly fuel producers in the middle of industry issues that some might be utilizing fraudulent feedstocks for biodiesel to secure lucrative federal government subsidies.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis that the agency has actually introduced audits over the previous year, however decreased to determine the companies targeted due to the fact that the examinations are continuous.

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

The concern entered focus following a rise in used cooking oil exports from Asia in current years that experts have stated includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil utilized and recovered in the region. The European Union is likewise examining feedstocks over the fraud concerns.

The EPA audits started after the agency upgraded domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for sustainable fuel producers seeking to make credits under the RFS, he stated.

"EPA has conducted audits of sustainable fuel producers since July 2023 which consists of, among other things, an assessment of the areas that used cooking oil used in eco-friendly fuel production was collected," he stated. "These examinations, nevertheless, are ongoing and we are unable to discuss continuous enforcement investigations."

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

"The Biden administration has actually produced vigorous requirements to verify, not simply trust, American producers, and it is vital that the very same scrutiny is used to imported feedstocks," six U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, composed 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 clean fuel tax credit program passed in the Inflation Reduction Act. (Reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Matthew Lewis)