By Leah Douglas
Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has actually introduced examinations into the supply chains of a minimum of 2 renewable fuel producers amidst industry issues that some may be utilizing deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to secure rewarding federal government subsidies.
EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the firm has launched audits over the previous year, however declined to recognize 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 environmental and climate subsidies, including tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Standard. But fears have actually been installing that some materials identified as used cooking oil are in fact more affordable and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is associated with logging and other ecological damage.
The concern entered into focus following a rise in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia over the last few years that experts have stated involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil utilized and recuperated in the area. The European Union is also investigating feedstocks over the scams issues.
The EPA audits began after the firm upgraded domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for renewable fuel manufacturers seeking to earn credits under the RFS, he stated.
"EPA has conducted audits of eco-friendly fuel manufacturers given that July 2023 which includes, to name a few things, an assessment of the areas that utilized cooking oil utilized in eco-friendly fuel production was gathered," he stated. "These examinations, nevertheless, are ongoing and we are unable to go over continuous enforcement examinations."
U.S. senators from farm states have required more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, stating federal agencies must be as rigorous in validating imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.
"The Biden administration has actually developed energetic requirements to validate, not simply trust, American producers, and it is vital that the same examination is used 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 prompted the administration to exclude 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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