1 US EPA Says it is Auditing Biofuel Producers' Pre-owned Cooking Oil Supply

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By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has launched examinations into the supply chains of a minimum of 2 sustainable fuel producers amidst industry concerns that some may be utilizing fraudulent feedstocks for biodiesel to protect lucrative government aids.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the firm has released audits over the previous year, but decreased to identify the business targeted since the examinations are ongoing.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable components, like utilized cooking oil, can earn refiners a slew of state and federal environmental and environment aids, including tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But worries have actually been installing that some products labeled as utilized cooking oil are really 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 surge in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia in recent years that analysts have stated includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil used and recuperated in the region. The European Union is also examining feedstocks over the scams concerns.

The started after the firm updated domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for sustainable fuel manufacturers seeking to make credits under the RFS, he stated.

"EPA has conducted audits of renewable fuel manufacturers because July 2023 that includes, among other things, an assessment of the places that utilized cooking oil utilized in sustainable fuel production was collected," he stated. "These investigations, however, are continuous and we are not able to talk about continuous enforcement investigations."

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

"The Biden administration has actually developed vigorous standards to confirm, not simply trust, American producers, 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 prompted the administration to leave out imported feedstocks like UCO from an additional tidy fuel tax credit program passed in the Inflation Reduction Act. (Reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Matthew Lewis)