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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 actually launched investigations into the supply chains of a minimum of two sustainable fuel manufacturers in the middle of industry concerns that some may be utilizing fraudulent feedstocks for biodiesel to secure profitable government aids.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the company has actually introduced audits over the previous year, but declined to identify the companies targeted because the examinations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable components, like used cooking oil, can make refiners a slew 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 labeled as utilized cooking oil are in fact less expensive and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is related to deforestation and other environmental damage.

The concern entered into focus following a rise in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia over the last few years that analysts have actually stated involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil used and recovered in the area. The European Union is likewise 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 manufacturers seeking to make credits under the RFS, he stated.

"EPA has actually performed audits of eco-friendly fuel producers considering that July 2023 that includes, among other things, an assessment of the locations that used cooking oil used in renewable fuel production was gathered," he stated. "These investigations, however, are continuous and we are unable to discuss continuous enforcement examinations."

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

"The Biden administration has developed vigorous requirements to validate, not simply trust, American manufacturers, and it is essential that the exact same analysis 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 urged the administration to leave out 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)