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. Environmental Protection Agency has released examinations into the supply chains of a minimum of two renewable fuel manufacturers in the middle of market issues that some might be using deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to protect lucrative federal government subsidies.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the agency has released audits over the past year, but declined to determine the companies targeted since the investigations are ongoing.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable components, like utilized cooking oil, can earn refiners a multitude of state and federal ecological and environment aids, consisting of tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But fears have been mounting that some products labeled as utilized cooking oil are in fact less expensive and less palm oil, a product that is related to deforestation and other environmental damage.

The concern came into focus following a rise in used cooking oil exports from Asia over the last few years that analysts have stated includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil utilized and recuperated in the region. The European Union is also examining feedstocks over the fraud concerns.

The EPA audits began after the firm updated domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for eco-friendly fuel manufacturers looking for to make credits under the RFS, he stated.

"EPA has performed audits of renewable fuel manufacturers because July 2023 that includes, to name a few things, an assessment of the areas that utilized cooking oil utilized in renewable fuel production was collected," he said. "These examinations, however, are continuous and we are not able to discuss continuous enforcement investigations."

U.S. senators from farm states have actually called for more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, saying federal agencies need to be as rigorous in confirming imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.

"The Biden administration has actually created vigorous requirements to confirm, not just trust, American producers, and it is necessary that the very same examination is applied to imported feedstocks," six 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 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)