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 launched examinations into the supply chains of a minimum of 2 renewable fuel producers in the middle of industry issues that some might be utilizing deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to protect profitable government subsidies.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the company has released audits over the previous year, however declined to identify the companies targeted since the investigations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable ingredients, like used cooking oil, can make 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 been mounting that some supplies identified as used cooking oil are really more affordable and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is related to deforestation and other ecological damage.

The issue entered into focus following a rise in used cooking oil exports from Asia in recent years that experts have stated includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil used and recuperated in the region. The European Union is also examining feedstocks over the fraud issues.

The began after the agency updated domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for sustainable fuel manufacturers looking for to earn credits under the RFS, he said.

"EPA has conducted audits of renewable fuel producers because July 2023 that includes, amongst other things, an assessment of the locations that utilized cooking oil utilized in eco-friendly fuel production was collected," he said. "These examinations, however, are continuous and we are unable to talk about ongoing enforcement investigations."

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

"The Biden administration has produced energetic standards to confirm, not simply trust, American manufacturers, and it is crucial that the very same scrutiny is used to imported feedstocks," six U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, wrote in a June 20 letter to federal agencies.

Another letter from 15 senators to the Treasury Department on July 30 prompted the administration to exclude imported feedstocks like UCO from an extra tidy fuel tax credit program passed in the Inflation Reduction Act. (Reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Matthew Lewis)