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

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By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has introduced investigations into the supply chains of a minimum of 2 sustainable fuel manufacturers in the middle of market issues that some may be using fraudulent feedstocks for biodiesel to protect financially rewarding federal government subsidies.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the agency has released audits over the previous 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 make refiners a multitude 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 fears have actually been mounting that some products identified as used cooking oil are really less expensive and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is connected with logging and other environmental damage.

The issue entered into focus following a rise in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia recently that experts have actually stated includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil utilized and recuperated in the region. The European Union is also examining feedstocks over the fraud concerns.

The EPA audits started after the company updated domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for sustainable fuel manufacturers seeking to make credits under the RFS, he stated.

"EPA has actually performed audits of eco-friendly fuel producers given 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 said. "These examinations, however, are ongoing and we are unable to go over continuous enforcement examinations."

U.S. from farm states have required more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, saying federal companies must be as rigorous in verifying imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.

"The Biden administration has actually created energetic requirements to verify, not just trust, American manufacturers, and it is essential that the same scrutiny is used to imported feedstocks," 6 U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, wrote in a June 20 letter to federal companies.

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)