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 manufacturers amidst market concerns that some may be utilizing deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to protect profitable federal government subsidies.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the agency has launched audits over the past year, however decreased to determine the companies targeted since the investigations are ongoing.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable ingredients, like utilized cooking oil, can make refiners a multitude of state and federal environmental and climate aids, 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 utilized cooking oil are actually cheaper and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is related to deforestation and other ecological damage.

The problem entered into focus following a surge in used cooking oil exports from Asia recently that experts have actually said involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil utilized and recuperated in the area. The European Union is also investigating feedstocks over the fraud concerns.

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

“EPA has actually conducted audits of sustainable fuel manufacturers considering that July 2023 which consists of, among other things, an examination of the areas that utilized cooking oil utilized in eco-friendly fuel production was collected,” he said. “These investigations, nevertheless, are continuous and we are not able to go over continuous enforcement examinations.”

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

“The Biden administration has developed energetic standards to confirm, not just trust, American manufacturers, and it is important that the very same examination 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 advised the administration to 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)