1 US EPA Says it is Auditing Biofuel Producers' used Cooking Oil Supply

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By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has actually launched examinations into the supply chains of a minimum of two renewable fuel producers amidst market concerns that some might be utilizing deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to protect profitable federal government aids.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the agency has actually introduced audits over the past year, however decreased to determine the companies targeted due to the fact that the investigations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable components, like used cooking oil, can make refiners a slew of state and federal environmental and climate subsidies, consisting of tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But worries have been mounting that some supplies labeled as utilized cooking oil are actually more affordable and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is associated with logging and other ecological damage.

The issue came into focus following a surge in used cooking oil exports from Asia over the last few years that analysts have actually stated includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil used and recuperated in the area. The European Union is also examining feedstocks over the fraud concerns.

The EPA audits began 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 said.

"EPA has conducted audits of renewable fuel producers since July 2023 that includes, among other things, an examination of the locations that utilized cooking oil utilized in renewable fuel production was collected," he stated. "These examinations, however, are ongoing and we are unable to go over continuous enforcement examinations."

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

"The Biden administration has actually developed energetic requirements to verify, not simply trust, American producers, and it is imperative that the very same examination is applied to imported feedstocks," six U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, composed in a June 20 letter to federal agencies.

Another letter from 15 senators to the Treasury Department on July 30 urged the administration to leave out imported feedstocks like UCO from an extra tidy fuel tax credit program passed in the Inflation Reduction Act. ( by Leah Douglas in Washington Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Matthew Lewis)