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

Blaine Mooring edited this page 2025-01-11 07:11:11 -06:00

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has introduced investigations into the supply chains of a minimum of 2 producers amidst market concerns that some may be using deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to secure lucrative government aids.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the firm has actually introduced audits over the previous year, however declined to recognize the business targeted due to the fact that the investigations are ongoing.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable active ingredients, like utilized cooking oil, can earn refiners a variety of state and federal environmental and environment subsidies, consisting of tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But worries have actually been installing that some materials identified as used cooking oil are actually more affordable and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is related to deforestation and other environmental damage.

The problem entered into focus following a rise in used cooking oil exports from Asia in current years that analysts have actually stated involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount 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 agency updated domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for eco-friendly fuel manufacturers seeking to make credits under the RFS, he stated.

"EPA has actually conducted audits of renewable fuel producers given that July 2023 that includes, to name a few things, an examination of the areas that utilized cooking oil utilized in renewable fuel production was gathered," he said. "These examinations, nevertheless, are ongoing and we are unable to discuss continuous enforcement examinations."

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

"The Biden administration has actually developed vigorous standards to validate, not just trust, American producers, and it is imperative that the exact same scrutiny is applied to imported feedstocks," six 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 exclude 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)