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

Jacquelyn McClinton edited this page 2025-01-12 19:35:19 +08:00

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has launched examinations into the supply chains of a minimum of 2 sustainable fuel producers amidst market issues that some might be utilizing deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to protect lucrative government aids.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the firm has introduced audits over the past year, but declined to determine the companies targeted because the examinations are ongoing.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable active ingredients, like utilized cooking oil, can make 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 worries have actually been installing that some materials identified as utilized cooking oil are actually less expensive and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is associated with deforestation and other ecological damage.

The issue entered focus following a rise in used 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 region. The European Union is likewise investigating feedstocks over the scams issues.

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

"EPA has actually performed audits of renewable fuel manufacturers considering that July 2023 which includes, to name a few things, an examination of the locations that used cooking oil utilized in sustainable fuel production was collected," he said. "These investigations, however, are continuous and we are unable to go over continuous enforcement examinations."

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

"The Biden administration has developed energetic standards to confirm, not simply trust, American producers, and it is crucial that the same analysis is used to imported feedstocks," 6 U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, wrote in a June 20 letter to federal firms.

Another letter from 15 senators to the Treasury Department on July 30 prompted the administration to leave out imported feedstocks like UCO from an extra clean credit program passed in the Inflation Reduction Act. (Reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Matthew Lewis)