1 US EPA Says it is Auditing Biofuel Producers' Pre-owned Cooking Oil Supply

Carmella Starns edited this page 2025-01-11 10:39:23 +00:00

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has introduced examinations into the supply chains of at least two sustainable fuel producers in the middle of industry issues that some might be utilizing deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to secure profitable federal government subsidies.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the firm has actually introduced audits over the past year, but decreased to determine the companies targeted because the investigations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable components, like utilized cooking oil, can earn refiners a slew of state and federal ecological and climate subsidies, consisting of tradable credits under a by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But worries have actually been installing that some products labeled as used cooking oil are in fact cheaper and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is associated with deforestation and other ecological damage.

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

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

"EPA has actually carried out audits of sustainable fuel producers given that July 2023 that includes, to name a few things, an assessment of the places that used cooking oil used in sustainable fuel production was gathered," he said. "These investigations, nevertheless, are continuous and we are not able to go over ongoing enforcement investigations."

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

"The Biden administration has developed energetic standards to verify, not simply trust, American manufacturers, and it is important that the exact same analysis is applied to imported feedstocks," six 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 urged 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)