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

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) – The U.S. Epa has introduced examinations into the supply chains of a minimum of 2 eco-friendly fuel manufacturers amid market concerns that some might be utilizing fraudulent feedstocks for biodiesel to protect profitable federal government subsidies.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the company has launched audits over the past year, however declined to identify the companies targeted because the investigations are ongoing.

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

The concern came into focus following a surge in used cooking oil exports from Asia over the last few years that analysts have stated involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil utilized and recuperated in the area. The European Union is likewise examining feedstocks over the scams concerns.

The EPA audits started after the company upgraded domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for eco-friendly fuel manufacturers looking for to make credits under the RFS, he said.

“EPA has carried out audits of sustainable fuel manufacturers given that July 2023 which includes, to name a few things, an evaluation of the locations that used cooking oil utilized in renewable fuel production was gathered,” he stated. “These examinations, however, are continuous and we are not able to discuss ongoing enforcement investigations.”

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

“The Biden administration has actually created energetic requirements to confirm, not just trust, American manufacturers, and it is important that the exact same analysis is applied to imported feedstocks,” six 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 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)