1 US EPA Says it is Auditing Biofuel Producers' Pre-owned Cooking Oil Supply

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By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has actually released examinations into the supply chains of at least 2 renewable fuel manufacturers in the middle of market concerns that some might be using fraudulent feedstocks for biodiesel to protect rewarding government subsidies.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the company has actually launched audits over the previous year, however decreased to determine the business 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, including tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But worries have actually been installing that some products identified as used cooking oil are in fact more affordable and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is associated with logging and other environmental damage.

The problem entered focus following a surge in used cooking oil exports from Asia in the last few years that analysts have 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 fraud concerns.

The EPA audits began after the company 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 performed audits of sustainable fuel manufacturers because July 2023 that includes, to name a few things, an examination of the places that used cooking oil utilized in sustainable fuel production was collected," he said. "These examinations, however, are continuous and we are unable to discuss ongoing enforcement examinations."

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

"The Biden administration has actually produced vigorous requirements to verify, not just trust, American manufacturers, and it is important that the very same scrutiny is applied to imported feedstocks," 6 U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, wrote in a June 20 letter to federal firms.

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)