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 launched investigations into the supply chains of a minimum of two renewable fuel manufacturers amidst market issues that some may be utilizing deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to protect lucrative government subsidies.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the company has actually launched audits over the previous year, however declined to recognize the companies targeted due to the fact that the investigations are ongoing.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable ingredients, like used cooking oil, can make refiners a variety of state and federal environmental and climate aids, including tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But worries have actually been installing that some materials labeled as utilized cooking oil are in fact cheaper and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is connected with deforestation and other environmental damage.

The issue came into focus following a rise in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia in the last few years that analysts have actually stated involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking and recovered in the region. The European Union is likewise investigating feedstocks over the fraud concerns.

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

"EPA has actually carried out audits of eco-friendly fuel manufacturers given that July 2023 which consists of, amongst other things, an assessment of the locations that used cooking oil utilized in renewable fuel production was gathered," he stated. "These investigations, nevertheless, are ongoing and we are unable to go over continuous enforcement examinations."

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

"The Biden administration has actually produced energetic requirements to confirm, not simply trust, American producers, and it is crucial that the exact 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 companies.

Another letter from 15 senators to the Treasury Department on July 30 advised 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)