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

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) – The U.S. Epa has actually released investigations into the supply chains of a minimum of 2 renewable fuel manufacturers amidst market concerns that some may be utilizing deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to protect rewarding federal government subsidies.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the company has actually released audits over the previous year, however decreased to determine the companies targeted since the examinations are ongoing.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable active ingredients, like utilized cooking oil, can earn refiners a multitude of state and and climate aids, consisting of tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But worries have actually been installing that some products identified as utilized cooking oil are really cheaper and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is connected with deforestation and other environmental damage.

The issue came into focus following a rise in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia in current years that analysts have said involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil utilized and recuperated in the area. The European Union is likewise investigating feedstocks over the fraud concerns.

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

“EPA has actually performed audits of sustainable fuel producers since July 2023 that includes, to name a few things, an evaluation of the locations that used cooking oil used in sustainable fuel production was gathered,” he stated. “These examinations, nevertheless, are ongoing and we are unable to discuss continuous enforcement investigations.”

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

“The Biden administration has actually developed energetic requirements to verify, not just trust, American manufacturers, and it is vital that the 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 companies.

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)