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

Gertrude Kaestner edited this page 2025-01-11 19:37:59 +00:00

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has introduced examinations into the supply chains of a minimum of 2 sustainable fuel producers amidst market concerns that some may be utilizing deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to secure profitable government aids.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the firm has introduced audits over the past year, however declined to identify the business targeted because the examinations are ongoing.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable ingredients, like utilized cooking oil, can earn refiners a slew of state and federal environmental and climate subsidies, consisting of tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But worries have been installing that some supplies labeled as utilized cooking oil are really less expensive and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is connected with logging and other ecological damage.

The concern entered into focus following a rise in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia in the last few years that analysts have stated includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil used and recuperated in the region. The European Union is likewise investigating feedstocks over the fraud concerns.

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

"EPA has actually carried out audits of sustainable fuel producers considering that July 2023 that includes, to name a few things, an assessment of the areas that used cooking oil used in eco-friendly fuel production was collected," he stated. "These investigations, nevertheless, are ongoing and we are not able to discuss ongoing enforcement investigations."

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

"The Biden administration has created vigorous standards to validate, not simply trust, American producers, and it is important that the exact same scrutiny is applied to imported feedstocks," 6 U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, composed in a June 20 letter to federal agencies.

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 in Washington Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Matthew Lewis)