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 released investigations into the supply chains of at least two sustainable fuel manufacturers amidst industry issues that some may be using fraudulent feedstocks for biodiesel to protect profitable government subsidies.

Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the firm has actually launched audits over the previous year, but declined to identify the business targeted due to the fact that the examinations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable components, like utilized cooking oil, can make refiners a multitude of state and federal environmental and climate aids, including tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But fears have been installing that some materials identified as used cooking oil are in fact more affordable and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is connected with deforestation and other environmental damage.

The concern entered focus following a rise in used cooking oil exports from Asia in current years that analysts have actually said involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil used and recovered in the region. The European Union is also examining feedstocks over the scams issues.

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

"EPA has performed audits of renewable fuel manufacturers considering that July 2023 that includes, to name a few things, an examination of the locations that utilized cooking oil utilized in eco-friendly fuel production was gathered," he said. "These examinations, nevertheless, are ongoing and we are unable to go over continuous enforcement examinations."

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

"The Biden administration has actually produced energetic requirements to verify, not simply trust, American manufacturers, and it is vital that the exact 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 urged the administration to leave out 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)