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

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By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has launched examinations into the supply chains of a minimum of two sustainable fuel manufacturers in the middle of market concerns that some might be using deceitful feedstocks for to protect profitable government aids.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the firm has actually launched audits over the past year, but decreased to recognize the business targeted due to the fact that the investigations are ongoing.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable ingredients, like utilized cooking oil, can make refiners a slew of state and federal ecological and climate subsidies, including tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But fears have been mounting that some supplies labeled as utilized cooking oil are actually more affordable and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is associated with logging and other environmental damage.

The issue came into focus following a rise in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia over the last few years that experts have said includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil used and recuperated in the area. The European Union is likewise 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 make credits under the RFS, he stated.

"EPA has carried out audits of renewable fuel manufacturers considering that July 2023 that includes, to name a few things, an examination of the areas that utilized cooking oil utilized in eco-friendly fuel production was collected," he stated. "These examinations, however, are ongoing and we are unable to go over continuous enforcement examinations."

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

"The Biden administration has actually created energetic requirements to confirm, not just trust, American producers, and it is necessary that the very same scrutiny is applied to imported feedstocks," six 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 urged the administration to exclude imported feedstocks like UCO from an extra tidy fuel tax credit program passed in the Inflation Reduction Act. (Reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Matthew Lewis)