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 introduced investigations into the supply chains of a minimum of 2 renewable fuel manufacturers amidst industry concerns that some might be using deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to secure rewarding government subsidies.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the agency has introduced audits over the previous year, but decreased to identify the companies targeted due to the fact that the investigations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable ingredients, like utilized cooking oil, can make refiners a variety of state and federal ecological and environment aids, including tradable credits under a by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But fears have been installing that some products labeled as utilized cooking oil are in fact less expensive and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is connected with logging and other environmental damage.

The concern entered focus following a surge in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia in the last few years that analysts have stated includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil used and recovered in the region. The European Union is likewise investigating feedstocks over the fraud issues.

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

"EPA has performed audits of renewable fuel manufacturers considering that July 2023 that includes, amongst other things, an examination of the areas that utilized cooking oil used in eco-friendly fuel production was gathered," he said. "These investigations, nevertheless, are continuous and we are unable to go over ongoing enforcement investigations."

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

"The Biden administration has developed vigorous requirements to validate, not just trust, American manufacturers, and it is necessary that the same examination 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 urged the administration to omit 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)