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1 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 introduced examinations into the supply chains of a minimum of 2 eco-friendly fuel manufacturers amid industry concerns that some may be utilizing deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to secure financially rewarding government subsidies.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the agency has actually launched audits over the previous year, however declined to recognize the companies targeted because the examinations are ongoing.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable components, like utilized cooking oil, can earn refiners a multitude of state and federal ecological and climate aids, consisting of tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But fears have actually been installing that some materials labeled as utilized cooking oil are in fact cheaper and less palm oil, an item that is connected with logging and other environmental damage.

The concern entered focus following a rise in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia in recent years that analysts have actually stated includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil used and recuperated in the area. The European Union is likewise investigating feedstocks over the scams issues.

The EPA audits began after the agency updated domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for renewable fuel producers looking for to make credits under the RFS, he stated.

"EPA has performed audits of renewable fuel manufacturers given that July 2023 which consists of, among other things, an examination of the areas that used cooking oil utilized in sustainable fuel production was collected," he stated. "These investigations, nevertheless, are ongoing and we are not able to talk about ongoing enforcement examinations."

U.S. senators from farm states have actually called for more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, saying federal companies ought to be as extensive in validating 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 essential that the exact same examination is used 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 leave out 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)