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

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By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has actually introduced examinations into the supply chains of at least 2 sustainable fuel producers amidst market issues that some might be using deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to secure financially rewarding federal government aids.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the firm has actually launched audits over the previous year, however declined to recognize the companies targeted since the investigations are ongoing.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable active ingredients, like utilized cooking oil, can earn refiners a multitude of state and federal environmental and climate subsidies, consisting of tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But fears have actually been mounting that some products identified as used cooking oil are in fact more affordable and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is related to logging and other environmental damage.

The issue entered focus following a rise in used cooking oil exports from Asia over the last few years that experts have actually stated includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of utilized and recuperated in the area. The European Union is also examining feedstocks over the scams issues.

The EPA audits began after the firm updated domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for sustainable fuel producers looking for to make credits under the RFS, he stated.

"EPA has actually performed audits of renewable fuel producers since July 2023 which includes, to name a few things, an examination of the areas that used cooking oil utilized in sustainable fuel production was gathered," he stated. "These examinations, however, are ongoing and we are not able to discuss ongoing enforcement examinations."

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

"The Biden administration has actually developed energetic standards to confirm, not simply trust, American manufacturers, and it is vital that the exact same analysis 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 omit imported feedstocks like UCO from an extra tidy fuel tax credit program passed in the Inflation Reduction Act. (Reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Matthew Lewis)