By Leah Douglas
Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has launched investigations into the supply chains of at least two eco-friendly fuel producers in the middle of industry concerns that some might be utilizing deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to protect profitable government aids.
EPA representative Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the agency has actually released audits over the past year, however decreased to determine the companies targeted because the investigations are continuous.
The production of biodiesel from sustainable active ingredients, like used cooking oil, can make 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 been installing that some supplies identified as utilized cooking oil are actually cheaper and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is associated with deforestation and other environmental damage.
The issue entered focus following a rise in used cooking oil exports from Asia recently that experts have stated involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil used and recovered in the area. The European Union is also examining feedstocks over the fraud issues.
The EPA audits started after the company updated domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for eco-friendly fuel manufacturers seeking to make credits under the RFS, he said.
"EPA has actually performed audits of renewable fuel manufacturers given that July 2023 which includes, to name a few things, an assessment of the locations that utilized cooking oil used in sustainable fuel production was gathered," he stated. "These investigations, nevertheless, are ongoing and we are not able to go over ongoing enforcement examinations."
U.S. senators from farm states have actually called for more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, stating federal companies must be as strenuous in confirming imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.
"The Biden administration has produced energetic standards to verify, not just trust, American manufacturers, and it is vital that the 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 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)
