By Leah Douglas
Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has actually introduced examinations into the supply chains of at least 2 sustainable fuel manufacturers in the middle of market concerns that some may be utilizing deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to protect rewarding federal government aids.
EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the firm has released audits over the past year, however decreased to identify the business targeted due to the fact that the examinations are ongoing.
The production of biodiesel from sustainable components, like used cooking oil, can earn refiners a slew of state and federal ecological and climate 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 identified as utilized cooking oil are really more affordable and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is connected with logging and other environmental damage.
The issue entered focus following a rise in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia over the last few years that analysts have stated includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil used and recuperated in the area. The European Union is likewise investigating feedstocks over the scams concerns.
The EPA audits began after the agency upgraded domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for renewable fuel manufacturers looking for to make credits under the RFS, he said.
"EPA has conducted audits of renewable fuel producers because July 2023 that includes, amongst other things, an evaluation of the places that utilized cooking oil utilized in sustainable fuel production was gathered," he said. "These examinations, however, are continuous and we are unable to talk about continuous enforcement examinations."
U.S. senators from farm states have actually required more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, stating federal agencies should be as rigorous in validating imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.
"The Biden administration has developed energetic standards to validate, not just trust, American producers, and it is crucial that the same analysis is used to imported feedstocks," 6 U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, wrote in a June 20 letter to federal companies.
Another letter from 15 senators to the Treasury Department on July 30 advised the administration to leave out imported feedstocks like UCO from an extra tidy fuel tax credit program passed in the Inflation Reduction Act. ( 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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