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

Tawanna Armbruster edited this page 2025-01-12 02:51:26 +08:00

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has actually into the supply chains of a minimum of 2 sustainable fuel producers amidst industry concerns that some might be utilizing deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to protect rewarding government subsidies.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the company has introduced audits over the previous year, but declined to identify the companies targeted since the examinations are ongoing.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable components, like used cooking oil, can make refiners a multitude of state and federal ecological and environment subsidies, consisting of tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But worries have been installing that some supplies identified as used cooking oil are actually less expensive and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is connected with deforestation and other environmental damage.

The concern came into focus following a rise in used cooking oil exports from Asia recently that analysts have said involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil utilized and recovered in the area. The European Union is likewise investigating feedstocks over the scams concerns.

The EPA audits started after the agency updated domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for eco-friendly fuel manufacturers seeking to make credits under the RFS, he said.

"EPA has performed audits of renewable fuel producers because July 2023 which consists of, to name a few things, an assessment of the places that used cooking oil utilized in eco-friendly 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 actually called for more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, stating federal companies should be as extensive in confirming imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.

"The Biden administration has created energetic standards to confirm, not just trust, American manufacturers, and it is essential 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 agencies.

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