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 launched examinations into the supply chains of a minimum of 2 renewable fuel manufacturers amid market concerns that some might be utilizing deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to secure rewarding government subsidies.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the firm has actually released audits over the previous 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 make refiners a slew of state and federal environmental and environment aids, including tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel . But fears have actually been mounting that some products identified as used cooking oil are actually more affordable and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is related to logging and other environmental damage.

The concern entered into focus following a surge in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia recently that experts have said includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil used and recuperated in the region. The European Union is likewise examining feedstocks over the fraud issues.

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 stated.

"EPA has actually carried out audits of sustainable fuel producers since July 2023 which includes, among other things, an assessment of the places that used cooking oil used in renewable fuel production was collected," he said. "These examinations, however, are ongoing and we are not able to talk about continuous enforcement investigations."

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

"The Biden administration has produced energetic standards to confirm, not just trust, American manufacturers, and it is essential that the exact same examination is applied to imported feedstocks," 6 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 prompted 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)