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

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By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has actually released examinations into the supply chains of at least two eco-friendly fuel manufacturers amid industry issues that some might be using deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to secure financially rewarding government subsidies.

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

The production of biodiesel from sustainable ingredients, like used cooking oil, can make refiners a slew of state and federal ecological and environment aids, including tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But worries have been mounting that some products labeled as utilized cooking oil are actually more affordable and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is connected with deforestation and other ecological damage.

The concern came into focus following a rise in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia in the last few years that experts have said involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil utilized and recovered in the area. The European Union is also investigating feedstocks over the fraud issues.

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

"EPA has conducted audits of eco-friendly fuel manufacturers since July 2023 that includes, to name a few things, an evaluation of the areas that used cooking oil utilized in eco-friendly fuel production was gathered," he stated. "These examinations, nevertheless, are continuous and we are unable to talk about continuous enforcement investigations."

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

"The Biden administration has actually developed vigorous requirements to validate, not simply trust, American manufacturers, and it is crucial that the very same analysis 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 urged the administration to omit imported feedstocks like UCO from an additional tidy fuel tax credit program passed in the Act. (Reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Matthew Lewis)