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

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By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has released investigations into the supply chains of at least 2 sustainable fuel producers amid that some might be using fraudulent feedstocks for biodiesel to protect lucrative federal government subsidies.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the company has actually released audits over the previous year, but declined to identify the business targeted due to the fact that the investigations are ongoing.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable components, like used cooking oil, can earn refiners a slew of state and federal ecological and climate subsidies, consisting of tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But worries have actually been mounting that some materials identified as utilized cooking oil are actually cheaper and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is connected with logging and other ecological damage.

The issue came into focus following a rise in used cooking oil exports from Asia over the last few years that analysts have actually said includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil used and recovered in the area. The European Union is likewise investigating feedstocks over the scams issues.

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

"EPA has actually performed audits of sustainable fuel manufacturers considering that July 2023 which includes, to name a few things, an examination of the locations that used cooking oil used in sustainable fuel production was gathered," he said. "These investigations, however, are continuous and we are unable to discuss continuous enforcement examinations."

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

"The Biden administration has actually developed energetic requirements to verify, not just trust, American manufacturers, and it is essential that the 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 firms.

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)