US EPA Says It Is Auditing Biofuel Producers Used Cooking Oil Supply
By Leah Douglas
Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has actually launched examinations into the supply chains of at least 2 eco-friendly fuel producers in the middle of industry issues that some might be using deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to protect profitable government aids.
EPA representative Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the company has actually introduced audits over the past year, but declined to identify the companies targeted due to the fact that the examinations are continuous.
The of biodiesel from sustainable ingredients, like utilized cooking oil, can make refiners a variety of state and federal ecological and climate subsidies, consisting of tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But fears have actually been installing that some products identified as utilized cooking oil are in fact cheaper and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is associated with deforestation and other environmental damage.
The issue entered into focus following a rise in used cooking oil exports from Asia in recent years that experts have stated involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil used and recovered in the area. The European Union is likewise investigating feedstocks over the scams concerns.
The EPA audits began after the company updated domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for sustainable fuel producers seeking to make credits under the RFS, he said.
"EPA has carried out audits of eco-friendly fuel manufacturers given that July 2023 that includes, to name a few things, an examination of the areas that used cooking oil utilized in sustainable fuel production was gathered," he said. "These investigations, however, are ongoing and we are not able to discuss continuous enforcement examinations."
U.S. senators from farm states have called for more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, stating federal agencies need to be as strenuous in verifying imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.
"The Biden administration has produced vigorous standards to confirm, not just trust, American producers, and it is vital that the very same examination is used 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 prompted 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)
