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

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By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Agency has released examinations into the supply chains of at least 2 eco-friendly fuel manufacturers in the middle of market concerns that some might be using fraudulent feedstocks for biodiesel to secure profitable government aids.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the firm has actually launched audits over the past year, however declined to determine the companies targeted due to the fact that the examinations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable components, like utilized cooking oil, can earn refiners a variety of state and federal environmental and climate subsidies, including tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But worries have actually been installing that some supplies identified as utilized cooking oil are actually less expensive and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is related to logging and other ecological damage.

The concern entered focus following a surge in used cooking oil exports from Asia in current years that experts have stated involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil utilized and recovered in the region. The European Union is also investigating 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 actually conducted audits of renewable fuel manufacturers since July 2023 which includes, to name a few things, an assessment of the locations that utilized cooking oil utilized in eco-friendly fuel production was gathered," he stated. "These investigations, however, are ongoing and we are not able to discuss ongoing enforcement investigations."

U.S. senators from farm states have actually called for more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, stating federal agencies should be as rigorous in confirming imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.

"The Biden administration has actually developed energetic requirements to verify, not simply trust, American manufacturers, and it is important that the same analysis is applied to imported feedstocks," six U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, composed in a June 20 letter to federal firms.

Another letter from 15 senators to the Treasury Department on July 30 advised the administration to omit imported feedstocks like UCO from an extra clean fuel tax credit program passed in the Inflation Reduction Act. (Reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Matthew Lewis)