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

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has actually launched investigations into the supply chains of at least two sustainable fuel producers amidst market issues that some may be using deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to secure rewarding federal government subsidies.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the firm has launched audits over the previous year, but decreased to recognize the companies targeted due to the fact that the examinations are ongoing.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable components, like used cooking oil, can earn refiners a variety of state and federal ecological and environment subsidies, consisting of tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But fears have actually been mounting that some supplies labeled as utilized cooking oil are actually more affordable and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is connected with deforestation and other environmental damage.

The concern came into focus following a surge in used cooking oil exports from Asia recently that experts have stated involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil used and recovered in the area. The European Union is likewise examining feedstocks over the fraud issues.

The EPA audits started after the agency updated domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for eco-friendly fuel manufacturers looking for to earn credits under the RFS, he said.

“EPA has carried out audits of eco-friendly fuel producers because July 2023 that includes, amongst other things, an assessment of the locations that used cooking oil used in renewable fuel production was collected,” he said. “These investigations, however, are continuous and we are unable to talk about continuous enforcement examinations.”

U.S. senators from farm states have required more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, saying federal firms ought to be as extensive in validating imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.

“The Biden administration has produced energetic requirements to verify, not just trust, American manufacturers, and it is important that the very 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 .

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