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

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By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has actually launched examinations into the supply chains of a minimum of 2 renewable fuel producers in the middle of industry concerns that some may be utilizing deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to secure profitable federal government subsidies.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the company has actually introduced audits over the past year, however declined to identify the business targeted since the examinations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable components, like used cooking oil, can make refiners a multitude of state and federal environmental and environment aids, including tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But fears have been installing that some supplies labeled as used cooking oil are in fact more affordable and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is associated with and other environmental damage.

The concern entered focus following a rise in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia recently that experts have actually said includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity 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 sustainable fuel manufacturers seeking to make credits under the RFS, he said.

"EPA has performed audits of renewable fuel producers given that July 2023 that includes, among other things, an examination of the locations that used cooking oil used in sustainable fuel production was gathered," he stated. "These examinations, nevertheless, 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, stating federal firms need to be as extensive in confirming imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.

"The Biden administration has actually created energetic requirements to verify, not simply trust, American producers, and it is vital that the very same examination is used 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 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)