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

Glory Bordelon edited this page 2025-01-12 07:41:23 +08:00

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has actually into the supply chains of at least two renewable fuel manufacturers in the middle of market concerns that some might be using deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to protect profitable government subsidies.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the company has introduced audits over the past year, but declined to recognize the companies targeted because the investigations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable active ingredients, like used cooking oil, can make refiners a variety of state and federal ecological and environment subsidies, 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 used cooking oil are in fact less expensive and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is connected with deforestation and other environmental damage.

The concern entered focus following a rise in used cooking oil exports from Asia in the last few years that experts have actually said involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil used and recuperated in the area. The European Union is also examining feedstocks over the fraud concerns.

The EPA audits began after the agency updated domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for eco-friendly fuel manufacturers looking for to earn credits under the RFS, he stated.

"EPA has carried out audits of eco-friendly fuel producers considering that July 2023 which consists of, to name a few things, an assessment of the places that used cooking oil utilized in eco-friendly fuel production was collected," he said. "These examinations, however, are continuous and we are unable to discuss continuous enforcement examinations."

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

"The Biden administration has developed vigorous requirements to verify, not just trust, American producers, and it is essential that the same examination 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 advised 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)