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

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has actually introduced investigations into the supply chains of a minimum of 2 renewable fuel manufacturers in the middle of market concerns that some might be using deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to secure lucrative government subsidies.

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

The production of biodiesel from sustainable ingredients, like utilized cooking oil, can make a slew of state and federal ecological and climate aids, consisting of tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But fears have been installing that some supplies labeled as utilized cooking oil are really cheaper and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is associated with deforestation and other ecological damage.

The concern entered into focus following a rise in used cooking oil exports from Asia recently that analysts have actually said includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil used and recovered in the area. The European Union is likewise examining feedstocks over the scams issues.

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

“EPA has performed audits of renewable fuel producers since July 2023 that includes, to name a few things, an evaluation of the areas that used cooking oil utilized in sustainable fuel production was collected,” he stated. “These investigations, nevertheless, are ongoing and we are not able to go over ongoing enforcement examinations.”

U.S. senators from farm states have called for more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, stating federal firms need to be as strenuous in verifying imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.

“The Biden administration has created energetic standards to validate, not just trust, American producers, and it is essential that the very same examination is applied to imported feedstocks,” 6 U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, wrote in a June 20 letter to federal agencies.

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