US EPA Says It Is Auditing Biofuel Producers Secondhand Cooking Oil Supply

By Leah Douglas


Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has introduced investigations into the supply chains of at least 2 eco-friendly fuel producers amidst market issues that some might be using fraudulent feedstocks for biodiesel to secure rewarding federal government subsidies.


EPA representative Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the company has released audits over the past year, however declined to recognize the business targeted due to the fact that the investigations are continuous.


The production of biodiesel from sustainable active ingredients, like used cooking oil, can earn refiners a slew 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 worries have actually been installing that some materials identified as used cooking oil are really more affordable and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is connected with deforestation and other environmental damage.


The issue entered focus following a surge in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia in the last few years that experts have actually stated includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil utilized and recuperated in the area. The European Union is likewise investigating feedstocks over the scams issues.


The EPA audits started after the firm updated domestic requirements in July 2023 for eco-friendly fuel producers seeking to earn credits under the RFS, he stated.


"EPA has carried out audits of eco-friendly fuel producers considering that July 2023 that includes, amongst other things, an assessment of the areas that used cooking oil utilized in sustainable fuel production was collected," he said. "These investigations, however, are continuous and we are not able to talk about continuous enforcement investigations."


U.S. senators from farm states have actually called for more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, saying federal companies should be as rigorous in verifying imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.


"The Biden administration has developed vigorous standards to verify, not just trust, American manufacturers, and it is important 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 companies.


Another letter from 15 senators to the Treasury Department on July 30 advised the administration to omit imported feedstocks like UCO from an extra tidy fuel tax credit program passed in the Inflation Reduction Act. (Reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Matthew Lewis)