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 released investigations into the supply chains of at least 2 renewable fuel producers amidst industry concerns that some might be using deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to secure profitable government subsidies.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the agency has introduced audits over the previous year, but decreased to recognize the business targeted because the examinations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable components, like utilized cooking oil, can earn refiners a slew of state and federal ecological and environment aids, consisting of tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But worries have actually been mounting that some products identified as utilized cooking oil are in fact cheaper and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is associated with logging and other environmental damage.

The problem came into focus following a rise in used cooking oil from Asia recently that experts have actually stated involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil utilized and recuperated in the region. The European Union is likewise investigating feedstocks over the scams issues.

The EPA audits started after the firm upgraded domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for renewable fuel manufacturers looking for to make credits under the RFS, he said.

"EPA has performed audits of sustainable fuel manufacturers given that July 2023 which consists of, among other things, an examination of the areas that used cooking oil utilized in sustainable fuel production was collected," he said. "These examinations, however, are ongoing and we are not able to go over ongoing enforcement examinations."

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

"The Biden administration has actually produced vigorous requirements to validate, not just trust, American manufacturers, and it is important that the very same examination is used 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 leave out 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)