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 actually introduced examinations into the supply chains of at least 2 renewable fuel manufacturers amid market concerns that some may be utilizing deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to secure profitable government subsidies.


EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the company has actually launched audits over the past year, however decreased to determine the business targeted due to the fact that the examinations are ongoing.


The production of biodiesel from sustainable ingredients, like used cooking oil, can make refiners a slew of state and federal environmental and environment subsidies, including tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But fears have been installing that some products identified as utilized cooking oil are actually more affordable and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is connected with logging and other ecological damage.


The concern came into focus following a surge in used cooking oil exports from Asia in the last few years that experts have stated involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil utilized and recovered in the region. The European Union is likewise investigating feedstocks over the scams issues.


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


"EPA has actually conducted audits of renewable fuel manufacturers because July 2023 which consists of, to name a few things, an evaluation of the places that utilized cooking oil utilized in eco-friendly fuel production was collected," he said. "These investigations, nevertheless, are ongoing and we are unable to discuss ongoing enforcement investigations."


U.S. senators from farm states have actually called for more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, saying federal firms need to be as strenuous in confirming imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.


"The Biden administration has actually produced vigorous requirements to confirm, not simply trust, American producers, and it is imperative that the same examination is applied to imported feedstocks," six 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 advised the administration to omit imported feedstocks like UCO from an extra clean fuel tax credit program passed in the Reduction Act. (Reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Matthew Lewis)