US EPA Says it is Auditing Biofuel Producers' used Cooking Oil Supply
By Leah Douglas
Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has released investigations into the supply chains of at least 2 eco-friendly fuel manufacturers amid industry concerns that some might be deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to protect lucrative government aids.
EPA representative Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the agency has actually released audits over the previous year, however decreased to identify the companies targeted due to the fact that the examinations are continuous.
The production of biodiesel from sustainable active ingredients, like used cooking oil, can make refiners a multitude of state and federal ecological 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 supplies labeled as used cooking oil are actually more affordable and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is associated with deforestation and other environmental damage.
The issue entered into focus following a surge in used cooking oil exports from Asia recently that analysts have actually said includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil used and recovered in the region. The European Union is likewise examining feedstocks over the scams concerns.
The EPA audits began after the firm updated domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for sustainable fuel manufacturers looking for to earn credits under the RFS, he said.
"EPA has actually carried out audits of sustainable fuel producers given that July 2023 that includes, to name a few things, an evaluation of the areas that used cooking oil used in renewable fuel production was gathered," he said. "These investigations, however, are ongoing and we are not able to go over continuous enforcement investigations."
U.S. senators from farm states have actually called for more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, stating federal firms need to be as strenuous in verifying imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.
"The Biden administration has actually developed energetic requirements to confirm, not simply trust, American producers, and it is crucial that the exact 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 agencies.
Another letter from 15 senators to the Treasury Department on July 30 advised the administration to exclude 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)