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

Carrol Ehmann edited this page 2025-01-12 08:57:42 +08:00

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has introduced investigations into the supply chains of at least two sustainable fuel producers amid market concerns that some might be utilizing fraudulent feedstocks for biodiesel to protect rewarding federal government subsidies.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the company has launched audits over the past year, but decreased to identify the business targeted due to the fact that the investigations are ongoing.

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

The problem entered into focus following a surge in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia recently that analysts have stated includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil utilized and recovered in the region. The European Union is also investigating feedstocks over the scams issues.

The EPA audits began after the company updated domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for renewable fuel manufacturers looking for to make credits under the RFS, he stated.

"EPA has actually performed audits of renewable fuel manufacturers since July 2023 that includes, to name a few things, an evaluation of the locations that utilized cooking oil utilized in sustainable fuel production was gathered," he said. "These investigations, nevertheless, are ongoing and we are not able to discuss ongoing enforcement examinations."

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

"The Biden administration has produced vigorous standards to confirm, not just trust, American producers, and it is imperative that the same analysis is applied to imported feedstocks," 6 U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, composed in a June 20 letter to federal companies.

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