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

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has actually released examinations into the supply chains of a minimum of two eco-friendly fuel producers amidst industry concerns that some might be utilizing deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to secure profitable government aids.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the firm has released audits over the past year, however decreased to identify the business targeted due to the fact that the examinations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable components, like used cooking oil, can make refiners a slew of state and federal ecological and climate subsidies, including tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But fears have actually been mounting that some supplies labeled as used cooking oil are in fact cheaper and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is connected with logging and other ecological damage.

The concern entered into focus following a rise in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia in the last few years that analysts have stated includes 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 fraud concerns.

The EPA audits started after the company upgraded domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for eco-friendly fuel producers looking for to make credits under the RFS, he said.

"EPA has actually conducted audits of sustainable fuel producers considering that July 2023 that includes, to name a few things, an evaluation of the places that utilized cooking oil used in sustainable fuel production was gathered," he said. "These examinations, however, are continuous and we are not able to talk about continuous enforcement examinations."

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

"The Biden administration has created energetic requirements to confirm, not just trust, American producers, and it is imperative that the same analysis is applied to imported feedstocks," six U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, wrote in a June 20 letter to federal companies.

Another letter from 15 senators to the on July 30 advised the administration to leave out 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)