By Leah Douglas
Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has launched investigations into the supply chains of a minimum of two sustainable fuel manufacturers in the middle of market concerns that some might be utilizing deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to secure profitable federal government aids.
EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the company has actually launched audits over the past year, but decreased to determine the business targeted due to the fact that the investigations are continuous.
The production of biodiesel from sustainable ingredients, like utilized cooking oil, can make refiners a multitude of state and federal ecological and climate aids, consisting of tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But worries have been installing that some supplies identified as used cooking oil are really less expensive and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is related to logging and other ecological damage.
The issue came into focus following a rise in used cooking oil exports from Asia in the last few years that experts have actually said includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity 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 company upgraded domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for renewable fuel producers looking for to make credits under the RFS, he stated.
"EPA has actually performed audits of sustainable fuel producers since July 2023 which consists of, amongst other things, an assessment of the places that used cooking oil utilized in eco-friendly fuel production was gathered," he stated. "These examinations, nevertheless, are ongoing and we are unable to go over ongoing enforcement examinations."
U.S. senators from farm states have called for more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, stating federal firms must be as strenuous in confirming imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.
"The Biden administration has actually created vigorous standards to validate, not simply trust, American manufacturers, and it is vital that the very same scrutiny is used to imported feedstocks," six U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and 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 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' used Cooking Oil Supply
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