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

dannymcmullin edited this page 2025-01-12 04:38:28 +09:00

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 manufacturers amid market concerns that some might be utilizing deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to protect lucrative federal government subsidies.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the company has launched audits over the past year, but decreased to identify the companies targeted since the examinations are continuous.

The of biodiesel from sustainable components, like utilized cooking oil, can make refiners a variety of state and federal environmental and environment aids, including tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But worries have been installing that some materials identified as used cooking oil are actually cheaper and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is connected with logging and other environmental damage.

The problem entered into focus following a rise in used cooking oil exports from Asia recently that analysts have said involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil utilized and recuperated in the region. The European Union is also examining feedstocks over the scams issues.

The EPA audits began after the agency upgraded domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for sustainable fuel manufacturers seeking to make credits under the RFS, he said.

"EPA has actually conducted audits of eco-friendly fuel manufacturers since July 2023 that includes, amongst other things, an examination of the areas that utilized cooking oil used in eco-friendly fuel production was gathered," he stated. "These examinations, however, are ongoing and we are not able to talk about ongoing enforcement investigations."

U.S. senators from farm states have required more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, stating federal firms should be as extensive in validating imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.

"The Biden administration has actually produced energetic requirements to verify, not just trust, American producers, and it is necessary 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 firms.

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