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

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By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has actually launched investigations into the supply chains of at least 2 eco-friendly fuel manufacturers in the middle of industry concerns that some might be utilizing deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to secure lucrative government aids.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the company has launched audits over the previous year, however declined to determine the companies targeted due to the fact that the investigations are ongoing.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable ingredients, like utilized cooking oil, can earn 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 worries have been mounting that some supplies labeled as used are actually more affordable and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is associated with deforestation and other environmental damage.

The issue entered into focus following a surge in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia in the last few years that experts have actually stated includes 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 renewable fuel manufacturers seeking to earn credits under the RFS, he said.

"EPA has performed audits of sustainable fuel manufacturers considering that July 2023 which consists of, amongst other things, an examination of the areas that used cooking oil used in eco-friendly fuel production was gathered," he stated. "These examinations, nevertheless, are continuous and we are unable to discuss continuous enforcement investigations."

U.S. senators from farm states have actually required more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, stating federal firms ought to be as extensive in validating imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.

"The Biden administration has created energetic standards to verify, not simply trust, American manufacturers, and it is necessary that the exact same analysis is used to imported feedstocks," six 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 exclude 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)