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

Sherri Robin edited this page 2025-01-13 15:08:05 +01:00

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has introduced examinations into the supply chains of a minimum of two renewable fuel producers amid market concerns that some may be using deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to secure rewarding federal government aids.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the firm has actually over the past year, but declined to identify the companies targeted because the examinations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable ingredients, like utilized cooking oil, can make 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 worries have been mounting that some products labeled as used cooking oil are really cheaper and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is associated with deforestation and other ecological damage.

The concern came into focus following a rise in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia over the last few years that experts have actually stated involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil utilized and recovered in the area. The European Union is likewise examining feedstocks over the scams concerns.

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

"EPA has carried out audits of eco-friendly fuel producers because July 2023 which includes, to name a few things, an examination of the areas that utilized cooking oil used in eco-friendly fuel production was collected," he stated. "These examinations, however, are ongoing and we are unable 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 validating imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.

"The Biden administration has developed vigorous standards to validate, not simply trust, American manufacturers, and it is essential that the very same examination is applied to imported feedstocks," six U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, wrote in a June 20 letter to federal companies.

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 clean fuel tax credit program passed in the Inflation Reduction Act. (Reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Matthew Lewis)