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

Chante Peake edited this page 2025-01-12 06:33:19 +00:00

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has released examinations into the supply chains of a minimum of two renewable fuel manufacturers in the middle of industry issues that some might be using deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to protect lucrative federal government aids.

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

The production of biodiesel from sustainable components, like used cooking oil, can earn refiners a multitude of state and federal ecological and environment aids, consisting of tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But worries have been mounting that some supplies labeled as utilized cooking oil are in fact more affordable and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is associated with deforestation and other environmental damage.

The concern entered 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 utilized and recuperated in the region. The European Union is also examining feedstocks over the scams issues.

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

"EPA has carried out audits of eco-friendly fuel manufacturers because July 2023 that includes, to name a few things, an examination of the locations that utilized cooking oil utilized in sustainable fuel production was collected," he said. "These examinations, however, are ongoing and we are not able to talk about ongoing enforcement examinations."

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

"The Biden administration has actually developed energetic standards to validate, not simply trust, American producers, and it is essential that the very 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 agencies.

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