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

Lonny Rancourt edited this page 2025-01-12 14:01:29 +09:00

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has released examinations into the supply chains of a minimum of two renewable fuel manufacturers amid industry issues that some might be using fraudulent feedstocks for biodiesel to protect rewarding federal government subsidies.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the agency has actually released audits over the previous year, but decreased to identify the companies targeted since the examinations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable components, like used 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 installing that some products labeled as utilized cooking oil are in fact more affordable and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is related to logging and other ecological damage.

The issue came into focus following a surge in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia recently that experts have said involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil utilized and recovered in the area. The European Union is likewise investigating feedstocks over the fraud concerns.

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

"EPA has actually performed audits of eco-friendly fuel manufacturers considering that July 2023 that includes, to name a few things, an assessment of the areas that utilized cooking oil utilized in sustainable fuel production was gathered," he stated. "These investigations, nevertheless, are ongoing and we are unable to talk about continuous enforcement examinations."

U.S. senators from farm states have actually called for more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, saying federal companies ought to be as rigorous in verifying imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.

"The Biden administration has actually produced vigorous requirements to validate, not simply trust, American producers, and it is vital that the exact same analysis is applied to imported feedstocks," 6 U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, wrote in a June 20 letter to federal agencies.

Another letter from 15 senators to the Treasury Department on July 30 prompted the administration to leave out imported feedstocks like UCO from an additional clean fuel tax credit program passed in the Inflation Reduction Act. ( by Leah Douglas in Washington Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Matthew Lewis)