By Leah Douglas
Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has actually launched investigations into the supply chains of a minimum of two eco-friendly fuel producers in the middle of market concerns that some may be utilizing fraudulent feedstocks for biodiesel to secure rewarding government aids.
EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the firm has introduced audits over the previous year, however declined to determine the companies targeted due to the fact that the examinations are continuous.
The production of biodiesel from sustainable active ingredients, like utilized cooking oil, can earn refiners a multitude of state and federal ecological and environment subsidies, including tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But fears have been mounting that some materials labeled as used cooking oil are actually less expensive and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is connected with deforestation and other ecological damage.
The concern entered focus following a surge in used cooking oil exports from Asia in the last few years that analysts have actually said involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil used and recuperated in the region. The European Union is likewise over the fraud issues.
The EPA audits began after the agency updated domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for renewable fuel producers seeking to make credits under the RFS, he stated.
"EPA has performed audits of eco-friendly fuel producers since July 2023 that includes, to name a few things, an examination of the locations that used cooking oil utilized in eco-friendly fuel production was gathered," he said. "These investigations, however, are ongoing and we are not able to discuss ongoing enforcement investigations."
U.S. senators from farm states have actually required more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, saying federal agencies must be as rigorous in validating imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.
"The Biden administration has produced vigorous standards to verify, not just trust, American manufacturers, and it is vital that the same scrutiny is used to imported feedstocks," six U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, composed in a June 20 letter to federal companies.
Another letter from 15 senators to the Treasury Department on July 30 urged the administration to exclude imported feedstocks like UCO from an additional 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' used Cooking Oil Supply
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