By Leah Douglas
Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has introduced examinations into the supply chains of at least two sustainable fuel producers amid industry issues that some might be using fraudulent feedstocks for biodiesel to protect rewarding federal government aids.
EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the agency has actually released audits over the past year, but declined to recognize the companies targeted since the investigations are continuous.
The production of biodiesel from sustainable ingredients, like utilized cooking oil, can make refiners a multitude of state and federal environmental and environment subsidies, consisting of tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But fears have been installing that some products labeled as used cooking oil are actually cheaper and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is related to logging and other environmental damage.
The issue entered into focus following a rise in used cooking oil exports from Asia over the last few years that experts have actually said includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil used and recuperated in the region. The European Union is also examining feedstocks over the fraud concerns.
The began after the firm updated domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for renewable fuel manufacturers seeking to earn credits under the RFS, he stated.
"EPA has actually carried out audits of renewable fuel producers considering that July 2023 that includes, among other things, an assessment of the places that utilized cooking oil used in renewable fuel production was gathered," he said. "These examinations, however, are continuous and we are unable to go over continuous enforcement investigations."
U.S. senators from farm states have actually called for more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, stating federal companies ought to be as extensive in verifying imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.
"The Biden administration has developed vigorous standards to validate, not simply trust, American manufacturers, and it is important that the same examination is applied 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 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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