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

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) – The U.S. Epa has actually introduced examinations into the supply chains of at least two renewable fuel producers in the middle of industry concerns that some might be utilizing fraudulent feedstocks for biodiesel to secure profitable federal government subsidies.

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

The production of biodiesel from sustainable active ingredients, like 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 installing that some materials identified as utilized cooking oil are really less expensive and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is connected with deforestation and other ecological damage.

The issue entered into focus following a rise in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia in current years that experts have said includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil utilized and recuperated in the region. The European Union is likewise investigating feedstocks over the fraud issues.

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

“EPA has actually performed audits of eco-friendly fuel manufacturers because July 2023 that includes, to name a few things, an assessment of the locations that used cooking oil used in sustainable fuel production was gathered,” he said. “These investigations, nevertheless, are continuous and we are not able to go over ongoing enforcement examinations.”

U.S. senators from farm states have actually required more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, stating federal companies must be as rigorous in verifying imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.

“The Biden administration has actually created vigorous standards to validate, not just trust, American manufacturers, and it is important that the exact 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 firms.

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