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

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) – The U.S. Epa has introduced examinations into the supply chains of a minimum of two sustainable fuel producers amidst industry issues that some may be using deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to secure rewarding government aids.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the firm has actually released audits over the previous year, however decreased to determine the business targeted because the investigations are ongoing.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable components, like utilized cooking oil, can earn refiners a slew of state and federal environmental and climate aids, including tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But fears have actually been mounting that some materials identified as utilized cooking oil are really less expensive and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is associated with deforestation and other ecological damage.

The problem entered into focus following a surge in used cooking oil exports from Asia over the last few years that experts have said involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil and recovered in the region. The European Union is also examining feedstocks over the scams issues.

The EPA audits started after the firm upgraded domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for renewable fuel producers looking for to make credits under the RFS, he stated.

“EPA has conducted audits of eco-friendly fuel manufacturers considering that July 2023 that includes, to name a few things, an assessment of the locations that used cooking oil used in renewable fuel production was collected,” he stated. “These investigations, nevertheless, are ongoing and we are unable to go over continuous enforcement investigations.”

U.S. senators from farm states have required more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, stating federal firms should be as strenuous in validating imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.

“The Biden administration has developed vigorous standards to confirm, not simply trust, American manufacturers, and it is crucial that the 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 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)