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

Waldo Reilly edited this page 4 weeks ago

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has actually introduced examinations into the of at least 2 renewable fuel producers amid market issues that some might be utilizing fraudulent feedstocks for biodiesel to secure profitable federal government aids.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the firm has introduced audits over the past year, however decreased to determine the companies targeted because the investigations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable components, like used cooking oil, can earn refiners a slew of state and federal environmental and environment aids, consisting of tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But worries have actually been mounting that some products identified as utilized cooking oil are in fact less expensive and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is related to logging and other environmental damage.

The issue came into focus following a surge in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia in current years that experts have actually said involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil utilized and recovered in the region. The European Union is likewise investigating feedstocks over the fraud issues.

The EPA audits began after the company updated domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for sustainable fuel manufacturers seeking to earn credits under the RFS, he stated.

"EPA has actually conducted audits of renewable fuel manufacturers since July 2023 which includes, amongst other things, an examination of the places that utilized cooking oil utilized in eco-friendly fuel production was gathered," he stated. "These examinations, nevertheless, are continuous and we are unable to go over continuous enforcement investigations."

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

"The Biden administration has produced vigorous standards to validate, not simply trust, American producers, and it is necessary that the same analysis is applied to imported feedstocks," 6 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 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)