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

Josette Del Fabbro edited this page 2025-01-12 02:00:27 +09:00

By Leah Douglas

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

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the agency has actually launched audits over the past year, however declined to determine the business targeted since the examinations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable components, like used cooking oil, can earn refiners a variety of state and federal ecological and climate aids, including tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But fears have actually been installing that some materials labeled as utilized cooking oil are actually less expensive and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is associated with deforestation and other environmental damage.

The issue entered focus following a rise in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia over the last few years that analysts have said involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil utilized and recuperated in the region. The European Union is likewise examining feedstocks over the scams concerns.

The EPA audits started after the company updated domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for eco-friendly fuel producers looking for to under the RFS, he said.

"EPA has conducted audits of renewable fuel producers given that July 2023 that includes, among other things, an assessment of the areas that used cooking oil utilized in sustainable fuel production was collected," he said. "These investigations, however, are continuous and we are not able to go over continuous enforcement examinations."

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

"The Biden administration has actually created vigorous requirements to confirm, not simply trust, American producers, and it is important that the exact same examination is used to imported feedstocks," six 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 additional tidy fuel tax credit program passed in the Inflation Reduction Act. (Reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Matthew Lewis)