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 actually released investigations into the supply chains of at least 2 sustainable fuel manufacturers amidst market concerns that some might be using deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to protect rewarding government aids.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the firm has introduced audits over the past year, however decreased to identify the companies targeted since the examinations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable ingredients, like utilized cooking oil, can earn refiners a variety 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 been mounting that some supplies identified as used cooking oil are in fact less expensive and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is associated with logging and other environmental damage.

The issue came into focus following a rise in used cooking oil exports from Asia in the last few years that analysts 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 over the fraud issues.

The EPA audits started after the agency upgraded domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for renewable fuel manufacturers looking for to make credits under the RFS, he stated.

"EPA has carried out audits of renewable fuel manufacturers given that July 2023 that includes, to name a few things, an examination of the locations that utilized cooking oil utilized in renewable fuel production was collected," he stated. "These investigations, however, are ongoing and we are unable to discuss continuous enforcement investigations."

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

"The Biden administration has actually produced energetic standards to confirm, not just trust, American manufacturers, and it is essential that the same analysis is applied to imported feedstocks," six 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 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)