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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 introduced investigations into the supply chains of at least 2 eco-friendly fuel manufacturers amid market concerns that some might be using deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to secure profitable government aids.

EPA Landis told Reuters that the company has launched audits over the past year, but decreased to determine the companies targeted because the examinations are ongoing.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable components, like used cooking oil, can earn refiners a multitude of state and federal ecological and environment aids, including tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But fears have been installing that some products identified as used cooking oil are really less expensive and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is associated with deforestation and other ecological damage.

The problem came into focus following a surge in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia recently that analysts have actually said includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil utilized and recovered in the area. The European Union is likewise examining feedstocks over the scams concerns.

The EPA audits began after the company upgraded 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 renewable fuel producers considering that July 2023 which consists of, among other things, an evaluation of the areas that utilized cooking oil used in sustainable fuel production was gathered," he said. "These investigations, nevertheless, are ongoing and we are unable to discuss ongoing enforcement investigations."

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

"The Biden administration has actually produced energetic standards to confirm, not just trust, American manufacturers, and it is crucial that the very same scrutiny is applied to imported feedstocks," 6 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 additional tidy fuel tax credit program passed in the Inflation Reduction Act. (Reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Matthew Lewis)