US EPA Says it is Auditing Biofuel Producers’ used Cooking Oil Supply

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) – The U.S. Epa has introduced investigations into the supply chains of at least two eco-friendly fuel producers amidst industry concerns that some may be utilizing deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to protect financially rewarding federal government aids.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the agency has actually introduced audits over the past year, but decreased to identify the business targeted because the examinations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable ingredients, like used cooking oil, can make refiners a variety of state and federal environmental and climate subsidies, including tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But worries have actually been installing that some products identified as utilized cooking oil are actually more affordable and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is connected with logging and other .

The issue entered into focus following a surge in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia in current years that experts have stated involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil used and recovered in the region. The European Union is also examining feedstocks over the fraud concerns.

The EPA audits began after the company 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 sustainable fuel manufacturers since July 2023 that includes, among other things, an evaluation of the locations that used cooking oil utilized in eco-friendly fuel production was gathered,” he said. “These examinations, however, are ongoing and we are unable to discuss ongoing enforcement examinations.”

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

“The Biden administration has produced vigorous requirements to validate, not just trust, American producers, and it is necessary that the exact same scrutiny is used to imported feedstocks,” 6 U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, composed in a June 20 letter to federal agencies.

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