US EPA Says it is Auditing Biofuel Producers’ used Cooking Oil Supply

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) – The U.S. Epa has actually launched examinations into the supply chains of at least two sustainable fuel manufacturers amid market issues that some might be using deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to secure rewarding government aids.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the company has actually released audits over the past year, but declined to identify the business targeted due to the fact that the examinations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable active ingredients, like utilized 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 fears have actually been mounting that some products identified as used cooking oil are in fact less expensive and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is related to logging and other environmental damage.

The concern entered into focus following a rise in used cooking oil exports from Asia over the last few years that experts have said involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil utilized and in the region. The European Union is likewise examining feedstocks over the fraud issues.

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

“EPA has conducted audits of sustainable fuel producers considering that July 2023 that includes, amongst other things, an examination of the locations that used cooking oil used in eco-friendly fuel production was gathered,” he stated. “These investigations, however, are ongoing and we are not able to discuss ongoing enforcement investigations.”

U.S. senators from farm states have actually required 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 developed energetic requirements to validate, not just trust, American manufacturers, and it is important that the exact same examination is used to imported feedstocks,” six 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 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)