US EPA Says It Is Auditing Biofuel Producers Secondhand Cooking Oil Supply
By Leah Douglas
Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has launched investigations into the supply chains of at least 2 sustainable fuel producers amidst market concerns that some may be using deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to secure lucrative federal .
EPA representative Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the agency has actually launched audits over the past year, but decreased to determine the business targeted since the investigations are continuous.
The production of biodiesel from sustainable active ingredients, like utilized cooking oil, can make refiners a multitude 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 fears have actually been mounting that some materials identified as utilized cooking oil are really cheaper and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is connected with deforestation and other ecological damage.
The issue entered focus following a surge in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia recently that analysts have stated includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil utilized and recuperated in the area. The European Union is also investigating feedstocks over the fraud issues.
The EPA audits started after the company updated domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for renewable fuel producers seeking to earn credits under the RFS, he stated.
"EPA has actually performed audits of sustainable fuel manufacturers since July 2023 which consists of, among other things, an examination of the places that used cooking oil used in renewable fuel production was gathered," he stated. "These examinations, however, are ongoing and we are unable to go over ongoing enforcement investigations."
U.S. senators from farm states have required more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, saying federal firms should be as strenuous in validating imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.
"The Biden administration has created vigorous standards to confirm, not simply trust, American manufacturers, and it is crucial that the exact same scrutiny is used to imported feedstocks," six U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, wrote 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 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)
