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

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has released investigations into the supply chains of at least 2 sustainable fuel manufacturers amid industry concerns that some may be using deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to secure profitable government subsidies.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the company has actually released audits over the previous year, but declined to recognize the business targeted due to the fact that the examinations are ongoing.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable active ingredients, like used cooking oil, can make refiners a variety of state and federal ecological and environment aids, consisting of tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But worries have actually been installing that some supplies identified as used cooking oil are actually more affordable and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is related to logging and other environmental damage.

The problem entered into focus following a surge in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia recently that experts have actually stated includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil utilized and recovered in the region. The European Union is also examining feedstocks over the scams issues.

The EPA audits began after the agency upgraded domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for renewable fuel manufacturers seeking to earn credits under the RFS, he said.

"EPA has performed audits of eco-friendly fuel manufacturers considering that July 2023 that includes, amongst other things, an examination of the areas that used cooking oil used in renewable fuel production was gathered," he stated. "These investigations, however, are ongoing and we are not able to talk about continuous enforcement examinations."

U.S. senators from farm states have actually called for more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, saying federal firms should be as extensive in validating imports as they are supply chains.

"The Biden administration has developed energetic requirements to confirm, not simply trust, American manufacturers, and it is essential that the 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 companies.

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