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

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By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has actually released investigations into the supply chains of a minimum of two renewable fuel manufacturers amid market concerns that some might be utilizing fraudulent feedstocks for biodiesel to secure profitable government aids.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the company has released audits over the previous year, however declined to identify the business targeted due to the fact that the examinations are ongoing.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable ingredients, like used cooking oil, can make refiners a variety of state and federal ecological and climate aids, including tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But worries have been installing that some products identified as used cooking oil are actually more affordable and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is related to logging and other ecological damage.

The issue entered focus following a rise in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia in the last few years that analysts have said includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil used and recuperated in the region. The European Union is likewise examining feedstocks over the .

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

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

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

"The Biden administration has produced vigorous standards to validate, not just trust, American producers, and it is imperative that the same scrutiny is used to imported feedstocks," 6 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 urged the administration to omit 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)