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

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By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has actually introduced investigations into the supply chains of a minimum of 2 sustainable fuel manufacturers in the middle of market concerns that some might be using deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to protect financially rewarding federal government subsidies.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the company has launched audits over the past year, but declined to identify the companies targeted because the investigations are ongoing.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable components, like utilized cooking oil, can make refiners a multitude of state and federal environmental and climate subsidies, including tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But worries have actually been mounting that some products labeled as used cooking oil are actually less expensive and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is connected with logging and other ecological damage.

The problem entered into focus following a surge in used cooking oil exports from Asia over the last few years that analysts have actually said involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil used and recuperated in the area. The European Union is also examining feedstocks over the fraud concerns.

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

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

U.S. senators from farm states have called for more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, saying federal agencies should be as extensive in verifying imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.

"The Biden administration has created vigorous standards to validate, not simply trust, American producers, and it is crucial that the same analysis is used to imported feedstocks," 6 U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, composed in a June 20 letter to federal agencies.

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