By Leah Douglas
Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has actually introduced investigations into the supply chains of a minimum of two sustainable fuel manufacturers amidst market issues that some may be using deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to secure rewarding government subsidies.
EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the company has introduced audits over the previous year, but declined to determine the companies targeted due to the fact that the investigations are ongoing.
The production of biodiesel from sustainable components, like utilized cooking oil, can earn 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 been mounting that some supplies labeled as used cooking oil are actually cheaper and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is associated with deforestation and other environmental damage.
The problem entered focus following a rise in used cooking oil exports from Asia over 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 examining feedstocks over the scams concerns.
The EPA audits started after the company updated domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for eco-friendly fuel producers looking for to make credits under the RFS, he said.
"EPA has actually performed audits of renewable fuel manufacturers considering that July 2023 that includes, amongst other things, an examination of the locations that utilized cooking oil used in renewable fuel production was gathered," he said. "These examinations, nevertheless, are ongoing and we are unable to talk about continuous enforcement examinations."
U.S. senators from farm states have actually required more oversight of feedstocks, stating federal companies should be as rigorous in validating imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.
"The Biden administration has produced vigorous requirements to confirm, not just trust, American producers, and it is essential 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 agencies.
Another letter from 15 senators to the Treasury Department on July 30 urged the administration to omit 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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