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 released examinations into the supply chains of at least 2 renewable fuel producers amidst industry concerns that some may be using deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to protect profitable government aids.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the company has released audits over the previous year, however declined to determine the companies targeted because the examinations are ongoing.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable active ingredients, like used cooking oil, can earn refiners a variety of state and federal environmental and climate aids, consisting of tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But worries have actually been mounting that some products labeled as utilized cooking oil are actually less expensive and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is related to logging and other ecological damage.

The issue entered into focus following a surge in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia recently that analysts have actually stated includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil utilized and recuperated in the region. The European Union is also investigating feedstocks over the fraud issues.

The EPA audits started after the firm 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 actually carried out audits of sustainable fuel manufacturers given that July 2023 which consists of, to name a few things, an evaluation of the places that used cooking oil used in renewable fuel production was collected," he stated. "These investigations, nevertheless, are ongoing and we are unable to discuss continuous enforcement examinations."

U.S. senators from farm states have called for more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, stating federal firms ought to be as rigorous in verifying imports as they are supply chains.

"The Biden administration has actually created vigorous standards to verify, not just trust, American producers, and it is crucial that the exact same scrutiny is applied to imported feedstocks," 6 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 omit imported feedstocks like UCO from an extra tidy fuel tax credit program passed in the Inflation Reduction Act. (Reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Matthew Lewis)