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

Nora Pickel edited this page 5 months ago

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has actually released investigations into the supply chains of at least 2 renewable fuel producers amidst market issues that some might be utilizing fraudulent feedstocks for biodiesel to secure rewarding federal government subsidies.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the company has released audits over the previous year, but declined to identify the companies targeted since the investigations 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 environment subsidies, including tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But worries have been installing that some materials identified as used cooking oil are in fact less expensive and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is related to logging and other environmental damage.

The problem came into focus following a surge in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia in recent years that experts have actually stated includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil utilized and recovered in the area. The European Union is also investigating feedstocks over the fraud concerns.

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

"EPA has actually performed audits of renewable fuel manufacturers since July 2023 that includes, amongst other things, an assessment of the locations that utilized cooking oil used in sustainable fuel production was gathered," he said. "These examinations, however, are continuous and we are not able to talk about continuous enforcement investigations."

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

"The Biden administration has actually created vigorous requirements to confirm, not just trust, American producers, and it is vital that the very same examination 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 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 by Richard Valdmanis and Matthew Lewis)