By Leah Douglas
Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has released examinations into the supply chains of at least two sustainable fuel manufacturers amidst market concerns that some might be using deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to secure profitable government aids.
EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the company has actually introduced audits over the past year, but declined to identify the companies targeted due to the fact that the examinations are ongoing.
The production of biodiesel from sustainable ingredients, like used cooking oil, can make refiners a variety of state and federal ecological and climate subsidies, including tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But worries have been installing that some products identified as utilized cooking oil are actually cheaper and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is connected with logging and other environmental damage.
The problem entered into focus following a rise in used cooking oil exports from Asia recently that analysts have actually said includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil utilized and recuperated in the region. The European Union is also investigating over the fraud issues.
The EPA audits began after the agency updated domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for renewable fuel manufacturers seeking to earn credits under the RFS, he said.
"EPA has actually carried out audits of sustainable fuel producers because July 2023 which includes, to name a few things, an examination of the places that utilized cooking oil utilized in renewable fuel production was collected," he said. "These investigations, however, are ongoing and we are not able to discuss ongoing enforcement investigations."
U.S. senators from farm states have required more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, saying federal companies need to be as rigorous in confirming imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.
"The Biden administration has actually created vigorous requirements to validate, not just trust, American manufacturers, and it is vital that the same examination is used to imported feedstocks," 6 U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, composed in a June 20 letter to federal agencies.
Another letter from 15 senators to the Treasury Department on July 30 urged the administration to leave out 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)
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US EPA Says it is Auditing Biofuel Producers' Secondhand Cooking Oil Supply
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