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

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By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has actually introduced investigations into the supply chains of at least two renewable fuel producers in the middle of industry issues that some might be using deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to secure profitable government aids.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the agency has launched audits over the previous year, however to identify the business targeted due to the fact that the investigations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable components, like utilized cooking oil, can earn refiners a multitude of state and federal ecological and environment aids, including tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But worries have actually been installing that some products labeled as utilized cooking oil are in fact more affordable and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is related to deforestation and other ecological damage.

The issue entered into focus following a rise in used cooking oil exports from Asia recently that analysts have actually stated includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil utilized and recovered in the region. The European Union is likewise examining feedstocks over the fraud concerns.

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

"EPA has actually conducted audits of sustainable fuel producers because July 2023 which includes, to name a few things, an evaluation of the areas that used cooking oil used in eco-friendly fuel production was gathered," he said. "These investigations, nevertheless, are continuous and we are unable to talk about ongoing enforcement investigations."

U.S. senators from farm states have actually called for more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, saying federal agencies should be as strenuous in validating imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.

"The Biden administration has actually produced energetic standards to verify, not simply trust, American manufacturers, and it is important that the very same examination is applied 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 prompted the administration to omit 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)