US EPA Says It Is Auditing Biofuel Producers Secondhand Cooking Oil Supply

By Leah Douglas


Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has actually launched examinations into the supply chains of at least 2 eco-friendly fuel producers in the middle of market issues that some may be utilizing deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to protect financially rewarding federal government subsidies.


EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the company has actually introduced audits over the previous year, but decreased to determine the companies targeted since the examinations are ongoing.


The production of biodiesel from sustainable active ingredients, like used cooking oil, can earn refiners a slew 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 actually been mounting that some materials identified as used cooking oil are really more affordable and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is related to logging and other environmental damage.


The problem entered into focus following a rise in used cooking oil exports from Asia in current years that experts have actually said involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of used and recovered in the region. The European Union is likewise examining feedstocks over the scams issues.


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


"EPA has performed audits of sustainable fuel producers since July 2023 that includes, to name a few things, an evaluation of the places that used cooking oil used in renewable fuel production was collected," he said. "These examinations, however, are continuous and we are unable to discuss continuous enforcement investigations."


U.S. senators from farm states have required more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, stating federal agencies must be as extensive in confirming imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.


"The Biden administration has created vigorous standards to confirm, not simply trust, American producers, and it is imperative that the same analysis is applied to imported feedstocks," six 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 prompted the administration to omit 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 Richard Valdmanis and Matthew Lewis)