By Leah Douglas
Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has launched examinations into the supply chains of a minimum of 2 eco-friendly fuel manufacturers in the middle of market concerns that some may be utilizing deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to protect profitable government subsidies.
EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the firm has actually released audits over the past year, however decreased to identify the business targeted due to the fact that the examinations are continuous.
The production of biodiesel from sustainable active ingredients, like used cooking oil, can earn refiners a variety of state and federal ecological and climate aids, including tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But fears have actually been installing that some supplies identified as utilized cooking oil are in fact cheaper and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is associated with deforestation and other ecological damage.
The concern entered into focus following a surge in used cooking oil exports from Asia in the last few years that experts have actually said includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil used and recuperated in the area. The European Union is likewise examining feedstocks over the scams concerns.
The EPA audits started after the company supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for renewable fuel producers looking for to earn credits under the RFS, he stated.
"EPA has actually carried out audits of sustainable fuel manufacturers because July 2023 that includes, to name a few things, an evaluation of the areas that used cooking oil used in eco-friendly fuel production was collected," he said. "These investigations, however, are continuous and we are not able to talk about ongoing enforcement investigations."
U.S. senators from farm states have required more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, stating federal firms should be as rigorous in validating imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.
"The Biden administration has created vigorous requirements to validate, not just trust, American producers, and it is necessary that the same examination is applied to imported feedstocks," six U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, wrote in a June 20 letter to federal agencies.
Another letter from 15 senators to the Treasury Department on July 30 prompted the administration to omit imported feedstocks like UCO from an extra 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' Pre owned Cooking Oil Supply
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