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 launched examinations into the supply chains of at least 2 sustainable fuel producers amid industry issues that some may be using deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to protect rewarding federal government aids.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the company has actually released audits over the previous year, but decreased to determine the business targeted since the examinations are continuous.

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

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

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

«EPA has performed audits of eco-friendly fuel producers considering that July 2023 which includes, to name a few things, an assessment of the areas that utilized cooking oil used in eco-friendly fuel production was gathered,» he said. «These examinations, however, are ongoing and we are unable to go over ongoing enforcement examinations.»

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

«The Biden administration has actually created vigorous standards to confirm, not just trust, American producers, and it is necessary that the same analysis is used to imported feedstocks,» six U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, wrote 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 clean fuel tax credit program passed in the Inflation Reduction Act. (Reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Matthew Lewis)