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 launched examinations into the supply chains of a minimum of 2 sustainable fuel manufacturers amidst industry issues that some may be using deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to secure lucrative aids.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the agency has introduced audits over the previous year, but declined to determine the companies targeted due to the fact that the investigations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable components, like utilized cooking oil, can make 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 installing that some materials labeled as utilized cooking oil are actually cheaper and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is related to logging and other environmental damage.

The issue entered into focus following a surge in used cooking oil exports from Asia over the last few years that experts have actually stated involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil used and recuperated in the area. The European Union is likewise investigating feedstocks over the fraud concerns.

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

"EPA has conducted audits of renewable fuel producers considering that July 2023 that includes, to name a few things, an assessment of the locations that used cooking oil used in renewable fuel production was collected," he stated. "These examinations, nevertheless, are ongoing and we are unable to go over ongoing enforcement examinations."

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

"The Biden administration has developed vigorous requirements to verify, not simply trust, American producers, and it is important that the same scrutiny 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 urged 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)