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

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By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has actually launched investigations into the supply chains of a minimum of 2 renewable fuel producers amidst market issues that some may be using deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to protect profitable government subsidies.

EPA Landis informed Reuters that the agency has actually released audits over the previous year, however decreased to determine the business targeted due to the fact that the investigations are ongoing.

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

The problem entered into focus following a surge in used cooking oil exports from Asia recently that analysts have actually said involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil used and recuperated in the region. The European Union is likewise investigating feedstocks over the fraud concerns.

The EPA audits began after the company updated domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for renewable fuel producers looking for to make credits under the RFS, he stated.

"EPA has performed audits of renewable fuel manufacturers considering that July 2023 that includes, among other things, an assessment of the locations that used cooking oil utilized in renewable fuel production was gathered," he stated. "These investigations, nevertheless, 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 firms need to be as rigorous in verifying imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.

"The Biden administration has actually produced energetic requirements to verify, not just trust, American manufacturers, and it is crucial that the very same scrutiny is applied to imported feedstocks," 6 U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, composed in a June 20 letter to federal firms.

Another letter from 15 senators to the Treasury Department on July 30 advised the administration to omit imported feedstocks like UCO from an additional clean fuel tax credit program passed in the Inflation Reduction Act. (Reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Matthew Lewis)