By Leah Douglas
Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has actually introduced investigations into the supply chains of at least two renewable fuel manufacturers amidst market concerns that some may be using deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to secure rewarding government subsidies.
EPA representative Jeffrey Landis told that the firm has actually introduced audits over the past year, but decreased to identify the business targeted because the investigations are ongoing.
The production of biodiesel from sustainable ingredients, like utilized cooking oil, can make refiners a variety 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 actually been installing that some products identified as utilized cooking oil are in fact less expensive and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product 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 the last few years that experts have actually said involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil utilized and recuperated in the region. The European Union is likewise examining feedstocks over the scams concerns.
The EPA audits started after the agency updated domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for sustainable fuel manufacturers seeking to make credits under the RFS, he stated.
"EPA has conducted audits of renewable fuel manufacturers given that July 2023 that includes, among other things, an evaluation of the places that used cooking oil utilized in sustainable fuel production was gathered," he said. "These examinations, nevertheless, are continuous and we are not able to talk about ongoing enforcement investigations."
U.S. senators from farm states have called for more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, stating federal agencies need to be as strenuous in confirming imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.
"The Biden administration has developed vigorous requirements to confirm, not simply trust, American producers, and it is crucial that the same scrutiny is applied to imported feedstocks," six U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, composed in a June 20 letter to federal firms.
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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