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

Hilda Rolston edited this page 2025-01-13 19:06:18 +08:00

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has launched investigations into the supply chains of a minimum of two sustainable fuel producers amidst industry issues that some might be utilizing deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to protect financially rewarding government aids.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the company has actually released audits over the previous year, however declined to identify the companies targeted due to the fact that the investigations are ongoing.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable components, like utilized cooking oil, can make refiners a variety of state and federal ecological and environment aids, including tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But fears have been installing that some supplies labeled as used cooking oil are really more affordable and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is associated with deforestation and other environmental damage.

The concern entered into focus following a surge in utilized cooking from Asia over the last few years that experts have 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 scams issues.

The EPA audits started after the firm upgraded domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for eco-friendly fuel manufacturers seeking to earn credits under the RFS, he stated.

"EPA has performed audits of renewable fuel producers because July 2023 which consists of, to name a few things, an assessment of the locations that used cooking oil used in eco-friendly fuel production was gathered," he said. "These examinations, however, are ongoing and we are unable to talk about ongoing enforcement investigations."

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

"The Biden administration has actually produced vigorous standards to validate, not simply trust, American producers, and it is crucial that the same examination is used 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 exclude imported feedstocks like UCO from an extra clean fuel tax credit program passed in the Inflation Reduction Act. (Reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Matthew Lewis)