The EPA and Customs and Border Protection have answers on why claimed-to-be used cooking oil, mainly from China, is allowed into the U.S. But one senator isn’t satisfied.
Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says the Environmental Protection Agency insists in response to his June letter, it can’t independently verify foreign claims imported used cooking oil is what it says. Imports of UCO mixed with virgin palm oil soared last year, with the adulterated product still eligible for a renewable fuel tax break.
“EPA revealed it relies on foreign records to prove used cooking oil meets the Renewable Fuel Standard requirement,” says Grassley “The EPA shouldn’t resort to blind faith when determining the validity of foreign feedstocks, especially when 40 percent of the supplies come from China.”
Grassley says Customs and Border Protection admitted in a separate response it considers any mixture of UCO and virgin oil to be used cooking oil. Grassley says, “I plan to discuss this issue with President Trump’s EPA nominee Lee Zeldin. If confirmed, I hope Zeldin will move quickly to root out the uncertainty surrounding used cooking oil imports.”
Grassley says the adulterated imports fly in the face of the tax credit’s purpose. “The rainforest has been burned down to plant the palm trees,” he says. “Then the carbon footprint is bigger for virgin cooking oil, virgin palm oil, than it is if you use petroleum products.”
Leading to complaints by biofuel interests, that China and others are unfairly competing for a share of the US market, including the growing one for sustainable aviation fuel.
Story by Matt Kaye/Berns Bureau Washington; courtesy of NAFB News Service
