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

Makayla Benton edited this page 2025-01-12 08:10:20 +08:00

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has actually launched investigations into the supply chains of a minimum of two renewable fuel producers amid industry issues that some may be utilizing fraudulent feedstocks for biodiesel to secure financially rewarding federal government subsidies.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the company has actually released audits over the past year, but decreased to determine the business targeted because the investigations are ongoing.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable active ingredients, like utilized cooking oil, can make refiners a slew of state and federal environmental and environment aids, including tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But fears have actually been mounting that some products identified as utilized cooking oil are actually cheaper and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is associated with logging and other ecological damage.

The problem came into focus following a rise in used cooking oil exports from Asia over the last few years that experts have actually stated includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil utilized and recuperated in the area. The European Union is also investigating feedstocks over the fraud concerns.

The EPA audits started after the firm updated domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for sustainable fuel producers looking for to earn credits under the RFS, he said.

"EPA has performed audits of renewable fuel producers given that July 2023 that includes, to name a few things, an assessment of the areas that used cooking oil utilized in sustainable fuel production was collected," he stated. "These investigations, nevertheless, are continuous and we are unable to talk about ongoing enforcement investigations."

U.S. senators from farm states have actually required more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, saying federal companies need to be as rigorous in verifying imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.

"The Biden administration has produced energetic standards to verify, not just trust, American producers, and it is vital that the exact same examination is applied to imported feedstocks," 6 U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, composed in a June 20 letter to federal firms.

Another letter from 15 senators to the Treasury Department on July 30 prompted the administration to omit 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 Lewis)