Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Roger Marshall (R-KS) are pressing the Biden administration on the steps it’s taking to address the recent surge of used cooking oil imports. Last year, the U.S. imported three billion pounds of used cooking oil, half of which came from China. That’s up from a total of 200 million pounds imported in 2020.
The senators sent a letter to the EPA, USDA, the USTR’s Office, and Customs and Border Protection. They point out concerns by some in the renewable fuels industry that large amounts of imported UCO may be a blend of UCO with virgin vegetable oils such as palm oil, which is directly linked to deforestation in Southeast Asia.
That would constitute fraudulent value distortion of the commodity designed to take advantage of tax incentives in addition to Renewable Identification Number (RIN) fraud under the RFS. They want to ensure the integrity of clean fuel policies.
