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

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By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has actually launched examinations into the supply chains of at least 2 sustainable fuel producers in the middle of market concerns that some might be using deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to secure rewarding federal government aids.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the firm has released audits over the past year, however declined to recognize the business targeted due to the fact that the investigations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable active ingredients, like 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 worries have actually been mounting that some products identified as used cooking oil are really less expensive and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is connected with logging and other environmental damage.

The issue came into focus following a surge in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia in recent years that experts have actually stated includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil utilized and recovered in the area. The European Union is likewise examining feedstocks over the fraud concerns.

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

"EPA has conducted audits of sustainable fuel producers because July 2023 which consists of, to name a few things, an assessment of the locations that utilized cooking oil utilized in eco-friendly fuel production was collected," he said. "These investigations, however, are continuous and we are not able to talk about ongoing enforcement investigations."

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

"The Biden administration has actually developed energetic standards to validate, not just trust, American manufacturers, and it is important that the same analysis is applied to imported feedstocks," six U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, wrote in a June 20 letter to federal companies.

Another letter from 15 senators to the Treasury Department on July 30 advised the administration to omit imported feedstocks like UCO from an extra clean fuel tax credit program passed in the Inflation Reduction Act. (Reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Matthew Lewis)