US EPA Says it is Auditing Biofuel Producers’ Pre-owned Cooking Oil Supply

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has actually released investigations into the supply chains of a minimum of two sustainable fuel manufacturers amidst market concerns that some might be utilizing deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to secure financially rewarding government aids.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the agency has launched audits over the previous year, however decreased to identify the since the examinations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable components, like used cooking oil, can make 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 utilized cooking oil are really more affordable and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is associated with deforestation and other environmental damage.

The issue came into focus following a surge in used cooking oil exports from Asia in recent years that analysts have stated involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil used and recuperated in the area. The European Union is also investigating feedstocks over the fraud concerns.

The EPA audits began after the agency upgraded domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for sustainable fuel manufacturers seeking to make credits under the RFS, he said.

“EPA has actually carried out audits of sustainable fuel producers because July 2023 that includes, among other things, an evaluation of the places that used cooking oil utilized in eco-friendly fuel production was collected,” he said. “These investigations, nevertheless, are ongoing and we are unable to talk about ongoing enforcement examinations.”

U.S. senators from farm states have required more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, stating federal companies should be as extensive in confirming imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.

“The Biden administration has developed energetic requirements to validate, not simply trust, American manufacturers, and it is imperative that the exact same scrutiny is used to imported feedstocks,” six U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, wrote in a June 20 letter to federal agencies.

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