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

maniegooge1588 edited this page 2025-01-11 22:14:51 +08:00

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has actually released examinations into the supply chains of at least two sustainable fuel manufacturers in the middle of market concerns that some may be utilizing deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to secure profitable federal government aids.

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

The production of biodiesel from sustainable components, 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 worries have been installing that some products labeled as used cooking oil are in fact less expensive and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is connected with logging and other environmental damage.

The concern came into focus following a rise in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia in the last few years that analysts have actually said includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil used and recuperated in the area. The European Union is likewise examining feedstocks over the fraud issues.

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

"EPA has conducted audits of renewable fuel manufacturers because July 2023 that includes, amongst other things, an evaluation of the locations that utilized cooking oil utilized in sustainable fuel production was gathered," he stated. "These investigations, nevertheless, are ongoing and we are unable to discuss ongoing enforcement examinations."

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

"The Biden administration has created energetic standards to validate, not just trust, American manufacturers, and it is imperative that the exact same scrutiny 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 urged 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)