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

Alvaro O'Bryan edited this page 2025-01-12 06:54:20 +08:00

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has launched investigations into the supply chains of a minimum of two eco-friendly fuel producers in the middle of industry concerns that some might be utilizing deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to protect lucrative government subsidies.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the company has launched audits over the previous year, however decreased to determine the business targeted since the investigations are ongoing.

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

The issue came into focus following a rise in used cooking oil exports from Asia in current years that experts have actually stated involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil utilized and recuperated in the area. The European Union is also investigating feedstocks over the scams concerns.

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

"EPA has actually carried out audits of renewable fuel producers considering that July 2023 that includes, to name a few things, an evaluation of the areas that used cooking oil used in sustainable 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 required more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, saying federal firms need to be as extensive in validating imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.

"The Biden administration has actually developed vigorous requirements to verify, not just trust, American producers, and it is necessary that the exact same scrutiny is used to imported feedstocks," 6 U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, wrote in a June 20 letter to federal firms.

Another letter from 15 senators to the Treasury Department on July 30 prompted the administration to exclude 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)