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

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has actually released investigations into the supply chains of a minimum of two eco-friendly fuel producers in the middle of market concerns that some might be using deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to secure profitable federal government aids.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the agency has introduced audits over the past year, but declined to determine the business targeted due to the fact that the investigations are ongoing.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable active ingredients, like used cooking oil, can earn refiners a variety of state and federal environmental and environment subsidies, including tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But fears have been mounting that some products identified as used cooking oil are actually more affordable and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is connected with logging and other environmental damage.

The issue entered into focus following a rise in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia recently that analysts have stated includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil used and in the region. The European Union is also examining feedstocks over the fraud issues.

The EPA audits began after the agency updated domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for renewable fuel manufacturers looking for to make credits under the RFS, he stated.

"EPA has actually conducted audits of sustainable fuel manufacturers since July 2023 that includes, amongst other things, an examination of the places that utilized cooking oil utilized in renewable fuel production was collected," he said. "These examinations, nevertheless, are continuous and we are not able to discuss ongoing enforcement examinations."

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

"The Biden administration has actually produced energetic requirements to verify, not just trust, American producers, and it is necessary that the very same scrutiny 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 urged the administration to leave out imported feedstocks like UCO from an extra tidy fuel tax credit program passed in the Inflation Reduction Act. (Reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Matthew Lewis)