US EPA Says it is Auditing Biofuel Producers' Pre-owned Cooking Oil Supply
By Leah Douglas
Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has actually launched examinations into the supply chains of at least 2 renewable fuel producers amidst industry concerns that some may be utilizing deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to secure rewarding government subsidies.
EPA representative Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the company has actually released audits over the past year, however decreased to identify the companies targeted because the examinations are ongoing.
The production of biodiesel from sustainable active ingredients, like utilized cooking oil, can earn refiners a variety of state and federal environmental and climate aids, consisting of tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But fears have been installing that some materials identified as used cooking oil are really less expensive and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is related to logging and other ecological damage.
The concern entered into focus following a rise in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia in the last few years that experts have actually stated involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil utilized and recovered in the region. The European Union is likewise examining feedstocks over the fraud issues.
The EPA audits began after the firm updated domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for sustainable fuel manufacturers looking for to make credits under the RFS, he said.
"EPA has actually carried out audits of renewable fuel producers given that July 2023 that includes, amongst other things, an evaluation of the areas that utilized cooking oil utilized in eco-friendly fuel production was collected," he said. "These examinations, however, are ongoing and we are not able to discuss continuous enforcement examinations."
U.S. senators from farm states have called for more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, saying federal companies should be as strenuous in verifying imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.
"The Biden administration has created vigorous requirements to verify, not simply trust, American producers, and it is important that the same examination is applied to imported feedstocks," six U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, composed in a June 20 letter to federal firms.
Another letter from 15 senators to the 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)