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

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) – The U.S. Epa has released examinations into the supply chains of at least two eco-friendly fuel producers amidst industry concerns that some may be using deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to secure rewarding federal government aids.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the agency has launched audits over the past year, however decreased to recognize the business targeted since the examinations are ongoing.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable ingredients, like utilized cooking oil, can earn refiners a multitude of state and federal ecological and climate subsidies, including tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But worries have actually been mounting that some supplies identified as utilized cooking oil are actually and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is connected with deforestation and other ecological damage.

The issue entered focus following a rise in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia over the last few years that experts have actually 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 fraud concerns.

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

“EPA has actually performed audits of renewable fuel producers since July 2023 which consists of, to name a few things, an evaluation of the places that used cooking oil utilized in renewable fuel production was gathered,” he stated. “These investigations, nevertheless, are continuous and we are not able to discuss ongoing enforcement investigations.”

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

“The Biden administration has created energetic requirements to validate, not just trust, American producers, and it is imperative that the exact 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 prompted the administration to leave out 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)