mission-newenergy-ltd

By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has actually introduced investigations into the supply chains of at least two sustainable fuel manufacturers amid market concerns that some might be using deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to secure profitable federal government subsidies.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the agency has launched audits over the past year, but declined to recognize the business targeted since the examinations are ongoing.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable ingredients, like used cooking oil, can earn refiners a variety of state and federal environmental and environment subsidies, consisting of tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But worries have been mounting that some supplies identified as utilized cooking oil are in fact cheaper and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is connected with logging and other ecological damage.

The concern entered focus following a surge in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia in current years that analysts have actually said includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil used and recovered in the area. The European Union is also investigating feedstocks over the scams issues.

The EPA audits started after the firm upgraded 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 eco-friendly fuel producers since July 2023 which includes, to name a few things, an examination of the locations that used cooking oil used in renewable fuel production was collected," he said. "These examinations, nevertheless, are ongoing and we are not able to talk about ongoing enforcement investigations."

U.S. senators from farm states have actually called for more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, saying ought to be as strenuous in verifying imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.

"The Biden administration has created vigorous requirements to confirm, not just trust, American manufacturers, and it is imperative that the very same scrutiny 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 urged the administration to leave out 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)