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

Korey Owen edited this page 2025-01-12 00:11:56 +08:00

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has released investigations into the supply chains of at least two sustainable fuel manufacturers amid industry issues that some might be feedstocks for biodiesel to protect financially rewarding federal government aids.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the company has introduced audits over the past year, but declined to determine the companies targeted due to the fact that the examinations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable components, like utilized cooking oil, can earn refiners a variety of state and federal ecological and environment aids, including tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But fears have been mounting that some materials identified as used cooking oil are really cheaper and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is related to deforestation and other ecological damage.

The problem came into focus following a surge in used cooking oil exports from Asia recently that experts have actually stated includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil utilized and recovered in the area. The European Union is likewise examining feedstocks over the fraud concerns.

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

"EPA has actually performed audits of renewable fuel producers given that July 2023 that includes, among other things, an assessment of the locations that utilized cooking oil used in renewable fuel production was gathered," he said. "These investigations, nevertheless, are ongoing and we are unable to talk about continuous enforcement investigations."

U.S. senators from farm states have required more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, saying federal firms must be as rigorous in confirming imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.

"The Biden administration has created vigorous standards to confirm, not simply trust, American producers, and it is crucial that the exact same examination is used 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 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)