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

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By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has actually launched investigations into the supply chains of at least two renewable fuel producers amidst industry concerns that some may be utilizing deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to protect profitable federal government subsidies.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the company has released audits over the previous year, however declined to determine the companies targeted because the investigations are ongoing.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable active ingredients, like oil, can earn refiners a multitude of state and federal environmental and climate subsidies, including tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But fears have actually been mounting that some materials labeled as utilized cooking oil are actually cheaper and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is connected with deforestation and other environmental damage.

The issue entered focus following a rise in used cooking oil exports from Asia in the last few years that experts have said includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil utilized and recovered in the area. The European Union is likewise examining feedstocks over the fraud issues.

The EPA audits started after the agency updated domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for sustainable fuel producers seeking to make credits under the RFS, he said.

"EPA has actually conducted audits of sustainable fuel producers given that July 2023 which consists of, among other things, an assessment of the places that utilized cooking oil used in sustainable fuel production was collected," he said. "These examinations, however, are ongoing and we are not able to discuss ongoing enforcement examinations."

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

"The Biden administration has developed vigorous requirements to confirm, not just trust, American manufacturers, and it is crucial that the very same examination is used 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 prompted the administration to exclude imported 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)