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. Environmental Protection Agency has actually introduced investigations into the supply chains of at least two eco-friendly fuel producers in the middle of market concerns that some might be utilizing fraudulent feedstocks for biodiesel to secure lucrative government subsidies.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the firm has actually released audits over the past year, however decreased to recognize the companies targeted since the examinations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable components, like used cooking oil, can make refiners a multitude 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 that some products identified as used cooking oil are really more affordable and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is associated with deforestation and other ecological damage.

The issue entered focus following a surge in used cooking oil exports from Asia over the last few years that analysts have stated involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil utilized and recovered in the region. The European Union is also examining feedstocks over the scams concerns.

The EPA audits started after the company upgraded domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for sustainable fuel manufacturers seeking to earn credits under the RFS, he said.

"EPA has actually carried out audits of renewable fuel manufacturers since July 2023 that includes, to name a few things, an examination of the areas that used cooking oil utilized in eco-friendly fuel production was gathered," he stated. "These examinations, nevertheless, are ongoing and we are unable to talk about continuous enforcement investigations."

U.S. senators from farm states have actually required more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, stating federal firms ought to be as strenuous in validating 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 necessary that the very same examination 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 advised the administration to exclude 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)