By Leah Douglas
Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has actually introduced examinations into the supply chains of a minimum of two eco-friendly fuel producers amid market concerns that some may be utilizing deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to protect financially rewarding government aids.
EPA representative Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the company has released audits over the previous year, however decreased to identify the business targeted since the examinations are continuous.
The production of biodiesel from sustainable components, like utilized cooking oil, can make 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 less expensive and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is associated with deforestation and other ecological damage.
The concern came into focus following a rise in used cooking oil exports from Asia in the last few years that experts have said includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil used and recuperated in the region. The European Union is likewise investigating feedstocks over the fraud concerns.
The EPA audits began after the agency updated domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for eco-friendly fuel producers looking for to under the RFS, he stated.
"EPA has actually conducted audits of eco-friendly fuel producers because July 2023 which consists of, to name a few things, an evaluation of the areas that utilized cooking oil utilized in eco-friendly fuel production was collected," he said. "These investigations, nevertheless, are ongoing and we are unable to go over ongoing enforcement investigations."
U.S. senators from farm states have required more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, stating federal agencies should be as strenuous in validating imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.
"The Biden administration has created energetic requirements to confirm, not simply trust, American producers, and it is important that the very same examination is applied to imported feedstocks," 6 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 urged the administration to omit 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' Secondhand Cooking Oil Supply
Kay Bunning edited this page 2025-01-18 07:02:03 +08:00