US EPA Says It Is Auditing Biofuel Producers Pre-owned Cooking Oil Supply
From Shiapedia
By Leah Douglas
Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has released examinations into the supply chains of a minimum of two eco-friendly fuel manufacturers amidst market issues that some might be utilizing deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to secure financially rewarding federal government aids.
EPA representative Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the agency has released audits over the past year, however decreased to recognize the business targeted because the examinations are continuous.
The production of biodiesel from sustainable components, like utilized cooking oil, can make refiners a multitude of state and federal ecological and climate subsidies, including tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But fears have actually been installing that some materials identified as used cooking oil are actually more affordable and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is related to logging and other ecological damage.
The issue came into focus following a surge in used cooking oil exports from Asia in the last few years that analysts have actually said includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil utilized and recovered in the region. The European Union is also examining feedstocks over the fraud issues.
The EPA audits started after the agency upgraded domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for eco-friendly fuel manufacturers seeking to make credits under the RFS, he stated.
"EPA has conducted audits of sustainable fuel producers because July 2023 that includes, among other things, an evaluation of the areas that utilized cooking oil utilized in eco-friendly fuel production was collected," he stated. "These examinations, nevertheless, are continuous and we are not able to go over continuous enforcement examinations."
U.S. senators from farm states have actually called for more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, saying federal firms need to be as strenuous in confirming imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.
"The Biden administration has actually created vigorous standards to verify, not just trust, American manufacturers, and it is crucial that the same analysis is used to imported feedstocks," 6 U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, wrote in a June 20 letter to federal companies.
Another letter from 15 senators to the Treasury Department on July 30 advised the administration to leave out imported feedstocks like UCO from an additional clean fuel program passed in the Inflation Reduction Act. (Reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Matthew Lewis)
