By Leah Douglas
Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has actually released investigations into the supply chains of a minimum of two sustainable fuel manufacturers amidst industry issues that some may be using deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to protect lucrative federal government subsidies.
EPA representative Jeffrey Landis told that the firm has released audits over the past year, however declined to identify the business targeted since the investigations are continuous.
The production of biodiesel from sustainable components, like utilized cooking oil, can earn refiners a variety of state and federal ecological and environment aids, including tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But worries have actually been mounting that some products labeled as utilized cooking oil are actually less expensive and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is associated with deforestation and other ecological damage.
The concern entered focus following a rise in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia recently that analysts have actually stated includes 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 fraud concerns.
The EPA audits started after the firm upgraded domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for sustainable fuel manufacturers looking for to make credits under the RFS, he stated.
"EPA has actually carried out audits of renewable fuel producers since July 2023 that includes, among other things, an assessment of the locations that used cooking oil utilized in eco-friendly fuel production was gathered," he said. "These investigations, however, are continuous and we are not able to talk about continuous enforcement examinations."
U.S. senators from farm states have called for more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, saying federal firms ought to be as extensive in verifying imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.
"The Biden administration has developed energetic requirements to validate, not just trust, American producers, and it is vital that the exact 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 agencies.
Another letter from 15 senators to the Treasury Department on July 30 prompted the administration to leave out 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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