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

Wilma Council edited this page 2025-01-12 00:43:46 +08:00

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has launched investigations into the supply chains of at least two renewable fuel producers in the middle of market concerns that some may be using deceptive for biodiesel to protect financially rewarding government aids.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the firm has introduced audits over the past year, but declined to recognize the companies targeted since the examinations are ongoing.

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

The concern entered focus following a surge in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia in current years that experts have actually stated involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil utilized and recovered in the region. 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 said.

"EPA has carried out audits of eco-friendly fuel manufacturers considering that July 2023 which includes, to name a few things, an examination of the locations that used cooking oil utilized in sustainable fuel production was collected," he stated. "These investigations, nevertheless, are continuous and we are not able to discuss continuous enforcement examinations."

U.S. senators from farm states have actually required more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, saying federal firms need to be as extensive in validating imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.

"The Biden administration has produced energetic standards to confirm, not simply trust, American producers, 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 prompted the administration to omit 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)