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. Environmental Protection Agency has launched examinations into the supply chains of a minimum of two eco-friendly fuel manufacturers amidst industry issues that some may be using deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to protect profitable federal government subsidies.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the company has launched audits over the previous year, however decreased to recognize the companies targeted because the investigations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable components, like used cooking oil, can make refiners a variety 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 materials identified as utilized cooking oil are in fact less expensive and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is connected with deforestation and other environmental damage.

The issue entered into focus following a rise in used cooking oil exports from Asia recently that experts have actually stated includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil utilized and recovered in the area. The European Union is likewise examining feedstocks over the scams concerns.

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

"EPA has carried out audits of renewable fuel producers because July 2023 that includes, amongst other things, an examination of the locations that used cooking oil used in eco-friendly fuel production was gathered," he said. "These examinations, nevertheless, are ongoing and we are unable to discuss continuous enforcement examinations."

U.S. senators from farm states have called for more oversight of feedstocks, stating federal agencies 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 manufacturers, and it is important that the exact 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 urged the administration to omit imported feedstocks like UCO from an additional clean fuel tax credit program passed in the Inflation Reduction Act. (Reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Matthew Lewis)