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

Augustus Thomas edited this page 2025-01-13 11:20:59 +00:00

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has released investigations into the supply chains of at least two renewable fuel manufacturers in the middle of industry concerns that some might be using deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to protect profitable government aids.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the firm has introduced audits over the past year, but declined to identify the business targeted since the examinations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable components, like utilized cooking oil, can earn refiners a slew of state and federal environmental and climate aids, consisting of tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But worries have been mounting that some products identified as used cooking oil are actually less expensive and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is related to logging and other environmental damage.

The issue entered focus following a rise in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia in the last few years that experts have actually stated involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil used and recovered in the region. The European Union is likewise examining feedstocks over the fraud concerns.

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

"EPA has performed audits of renewable fuel manufacturers considering that July 2023 which consists of, amongst other things, an evaluation of the areas that used cooking oil used in renewable fuel production was gathered," he said. "These examinations, however, are continuous and we are unable to discuss continuous enforcement investigations."

U.S. from farm states have actually called for more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, stating federal firms should be as strenuous in confirming imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.

"The Biden administration has created vigorous requirements to verify, not just trust, American producers, and it is necessary 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 agencies.

Another letter from 15 senators to the Treasury Department on July 30 urged 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)