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

Mari Goggins edited this page 2025-01-11 23:14:31 +08:00

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has actually released examinations into the supply chains of a minimum of 2 renewable fuel producers amid market issues that some might be using deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to protect lucrative government aids.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the agency has introduced audits over the past year, but declined to determine the business targeted since the examinations are ongoing.

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

The issue entered into focus following a rise in used cooking oil exports from Asia recently that experts have stated includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil utilized and recuperated in the area. The European Union is likewise investigating feedstocks over the fraud concerns.

The EPA audits started after the company updated domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for eco-friendly fuel producers looking for to make credits under the RFS, he said.

"EPA has conducted audits of eco-friendly fuel manufacturers considering that July 2023 which includes, to name a few things, an evaluation of the places that utilized cooking oil used in renewable fuel production was collected," he stated. "These examinations, however, are continuous and we are not able to talk about continuous enforcement examinations."

U.S. senators from farm states have actually called for more of biofuel feedstocks, stating federal agencies ought to be as strenuous in validating imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.

"The Biden administration has actually produced vigorous standards to validate, not simply trust, American producers, and it is essential that the exact 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 agencies.

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