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

Micaela Ashby edited this page 2025-01-12 02:50:28 +08:00

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has actually introduced examinations into the supply chains of at least two renewable fuel producers amid industry issues that some may be utilizing deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to protect rewarding government subsidies.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Reuters that the company has released audits over the previous year, but declined to identify the companies targeted since the examinations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable components, like used cooking oil, can make refiners a slew of state and federal environmental and environment subsidies, consisting of tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But worries have been mounting that some products identified as utilized cooking oil are in fact less expensive and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is connected with deforestation and other ecological damage.

The problem entered into focus following a surge in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia in the last few years that experts have actually said includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil used and recuperated in the region. The European Union is likewise investigating feedstocks over the scams issues.

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

"EPA has performed audits of sustainable fuel producers considering that July 2023 which consists of, to name a few things, an assessment of the places that used cooking oil used in renewable fuel production was gathered," he said. "These examinations, nevertheless, are continuous and we are unable to go over ongoing enforcement examinations."

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

"The Biden administration has developed vigorous requirements to confirm, not simply trust, American producers, and it is crucial that the same scrutiny is applied to imported feedstocks," 6 U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, composed in a June 20 letter to federal companies.

Another letter from 15 senators to the Treasury Department on July 30 prompted the administration to exclude 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)