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 sustainable fuel producers amid industry concerns that some may be utilizing deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to secure profitable government subsidies.
EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the agency has actually launched audits over the past year, however declined to recognize the business targeted since the examinations are continuous.
The production of biodiesel from sustainable ingredients, like utilized cooking oil, can make refiners a multitude of state and federal environmental and climate subsidies, including tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But fears have been installing that some products labeled as utilized cooking oil are actually less expensive and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is connected with deforestation and other ecological damage.
The concern entered focus following a rise in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia in the last few years that experts have actually stated includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil used and recuperated in the region. The European Union is also examining feedstocks over the fraud concerns.
The EPA audits began after the company updated domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for renewable fuel manufacturers seeking to make credits under the RFS, he said.
"EPA has actually conducted audits of renewable fuel manufacturers because July 2023 which includes, amongst other things, an evaluation of the locations that used cooking oil used in sustainable fuel production was collected," he said. "These examinations, however, are ongoing and we are unable to talk about continuous enforcement investigations."
U.S. senators from farm states have called for more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, saying federal agencies ought to be as rigorous in as they are auditing domestic supply chains.
"The Biden administration has actually produced energetic standards to validate, not just trust, American producers, and it is essential that the very same examination is used 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 urged the administration to exclude 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)