1 US EPA Says it is Auditing Biofuel Producers' used 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 renewable fuel producers amid industry concerns that some may be utilizing deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to secure rewarding federal government aids.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the firm has actually introduced audits over the past year, but declined to identify the companies targeted due to the fact that the investigations are ongoing.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable active ingredients, like utilized cooking oil, can earn refiners a slew of state and federal ecological and environment aids, consisting of tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But fears have actually been mounting that some supplies labeled as used cooking oil are in fact more affordable and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is associated with and other environmental damage.

The problem came into focus following a surge in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia in current years that experts have said involves 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 scams concerns.

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

"EPA has carried out audits of renewable fuel manufacturers given that July 2023 that includes, amongst other things, an assessment of the areas that utilized cooking oil utilized in eco-friendly fuel production was collected," he said. "These examinations, nevertheless, are ongoing and we are not able to go over ongoing enforcement investigations."

U.S. senators from farm states have actually called for more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, saying federal agencies need to be as strenuous in confirming imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.

"The Biden administration has actually developed energetic standards to validate, not simply trust, American manufacturers, and it is imperative that the same analysis is applied to imported feedstocks," 6 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 prompted the administration to leave out 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)