By Leah Douglas
Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has released investigations into the supply chains of a minimum of 2 sustainable fuel manufacturers amidst industry issues that some may be using deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to protect financially rewarding federal government aids.
EPA representative Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the company has actually released audits over the previous year, however declined to recognize the business targeted since the investigations are continuous.
The production of biodiesel from sustainable active ingredients, like utilized cooking oil, can earn refiners a multitude of state and federal ecological and climate subsidies, including tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But worries have been installing that some products identified as utilized cooking oil are actually cheaper and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is related to deforestation and other ecological damage.
The concern came into focus following a rise in used cooking oil exports from Asia recently that experts have actually said includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil utilized and recovered in the area. The European Union is likewise feedstocks over the scams issues.
The EPA audits began after the agency updated domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for renewable fuel producers looking for to make credits under the RFS, he said.
"EPA has actually conducted audits of renewable fuel manufacturers because July 2023 that includes, amongst other things, an evaluation of the places that used cooking oil utilized in renewable fuel production was collected," he said. "These examinations, nevertheless, are continuous and we are not able to discuss ongoing enforcement examinations."
U.S. senators from farm states have required more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, stating federal agencies ought to be as extensive in confirming imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.
"The Biden administration has actually developed energetic requirements to validate, not simply trust, American producers, and it is important that the same examination is applied to imported feedstocks," 6 U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, wrote in a June 20 letter to federal firms.
Another letter from 15 senators to the Treasury Department on July 30 advised the administration to omit imported feedstocks like UCO from an extra 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' Secondhand Cooking Oil Supply
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