By Leah Douglas
Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has introduced examinations into the supply chains of at least 2 eco-friendly fuel producers amidst market issues that some might be using deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to secure rewarding government subsidies.
EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the agency has actually launched audits over the past year, but declined to recognize the companies targeted due to the fact that the investigations are continuous.
The production of biodiesel from sustainable ingredients, like utilized cooking oil, can earn refiners a slew of state and federal environmental and environment aids, consisting of tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But fears have actually been installing that some as used cooking oil are actually cheaper and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is associated with logging and other environmental damage.
The concern entered focus following a surge in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia recently that experts have actually stated involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil used and recuperated in the region. The European Union is also examining feedstocks over the fraud concerns.
The EPA audits started after the agency updated domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for eco-friendly fuel producers looking for to make credits under the RFS, he said.
"EPA has carried out audits of eco-friendly fuel producers because July 2023 that includes, to name a few things, an evaluation of the areas that utilized cooking oil utilized in sustainable fuel production was gathered," he said. "These examinations, nevertheless, are ongoing and we are unable to talk about continuous enforcement investigations."
U.S. senators from farm states have called for more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, stating federal agencies should be as rigorous in verifying imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.
"The Biden administration has created energetic standards to confirm, not just trust, American manufacturers, and it is vital that the exact same examination is applied 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 advised 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)
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US EPA Says it is Auditing Biofuel Producers' Secondhand Cooking Oil Supply
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