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. Epa has actually released examinations into the supply chains of at least two sustainable fuel producers in the middle of market issues that some may be using deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to protect financially rewarding federal government aids.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the agency has actually introduced audits over the previous year, however decreased to identify the companies targeted since the examinations are ongoing.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable ingredients, like used cooking oil, can make refiners a multitude 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 actually been installing that some materials identified as utilized cooking oil are in fact less expensive and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is related to logging and other environmental damage.

The problem entered focus following a rise in utilized cooking from Asia in the last few years that analysts have actually said includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil used and recuperated in the area. The European Union is also investigating feedstocks over the scams concerns.

The EPA audits began after the firm updated domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for renewable fuel manufacturers looking for to earn credits under the RFS, he said.

"EPA has actually conducted audits of sustainable fuel producers considering that July 2023 that includes, amongst other things, an examination of the locations that used cooking oil utilized in eco-friendly fuel production was gathered," he said. "These examinations, nevertheless, are continuous and we are not able to discuss ongoing enforcement investigations."

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

"The Biden administration has actually created energetic requirements to validate, not just trust, American producers, and it is vital that the exact same analysis is used to imported feedstocks," six U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, wrote in a June 20 letter to federal companies.

Another letter from 15 senators to the Treasury Department on July 30 advised the administration to omit 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)