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

danielle736397 edited this page 2025-01-12 09:32:28 +08:00

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has released investigations into the supply chains of at least two renewable fuel manufacturers amid market concerns that some might be using deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to protect financially rewarding government subsidies.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the firm has launched audits over the previous year, however declined to determine the business targeted because the investigations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable ingredients, like utilized cooking oil, can earn refiners a multitude of state and federal environmental and environment aids, including tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But worries have been installing that some materials labeled as used cooking oil are really cheaper and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is related to logging and other ecological damage.

The problem came into focus following a rise in used cooking oil exports from Asia in the last few years that analysts have actually stated involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil used and recuperated in the region. The European Union is likewise investigating feedstocks over the scams concerns.

The EPA audits began after the agency upgraded domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for renewable fuel manufacturers seeking to make credits under the RFS, he stated.

"EPA has actually performed audits of sustainable fuel manufacturers considering that July 2023 which includes, to name a few things, an assessment of the locations that utilized cooking oil used in renewable fuel production was collected," he stated. "These examinations, nevertheless, are continuous and we are not able to talk about continuous enforcement examinations."

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

"The Biden administration has actually developed energetic requirements to verify, not just trust, American manufacturers, and it is vital that the very same scrutiny is applied 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 urged the administration to omit 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)