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 actually introduced investigations into the supply chains of a minimum of 2 renewable fuel manufacturers in the middle of market concerns that some may be utilizing deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to secure profitable government aids.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the firm has actually released audits over the previous year, but declined to recognize the companies targeted since the investigations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable components, like utilized cooking oil, can make refiners a multitude of state and federal ecological 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 supplies labeled as utilized cooking oil are really less expensive and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is associated with logging and other environmental damage.

The problem came into focus following a rise in used exports from Asia in the last few years that experts have actually stated includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil used and recovered in the area. The European Union is likewise investigating feedstocks over the fraud issues.

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

“EPA has actually carried out audits of renewable fuel manufacturers given that July 2023 which consists of, to name a few things, an assessment of the places that utilized cooking oil used in eco-friendly fuel production was collected,” he said. “These examinations, nevertheless, are continuous and we are not able to talk about continuous enforcement investigations.”

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

“The Biden administration has actually produced energetic standards to validate, not just trust, American manufacturers, and it is crucial that the very same analysis is used to imported feedstocks,” six U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, wrote in a June 20 letter to federal agencies.

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