On 13 December, Republican Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa, Republican Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas, and four of their colleagues sent a letter to US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Reagan regarding the surge in imports of used cooking oil (UCO), much of which comes from China.
This follows letters sent in June by several senators to the EPA, USDA, US Trade Representative, and the US Consumer and Board of Directors Protection Agency expressing concern about the dramatic increase in UCO imports from China. In the latest letter, Ernst and her colleagues said they have not yet received a response from the EPA regarding their initial enquiry.
The Senators emphasised that the response they received from US Customs and Border Protection earlier this year made it clear that reliance on tariff classification codes is not sufficient to ensure that imported UCO is an eligible renewable fuel feedstock because these codes do not ensure that the UCO is not blended with virgin cooking oil. The Senators explained that reliance on tariff classification codes could mean that a feedstock mixture containing only 1 per cent UCO blended with 99 virgin vegetable oils could be classified as 100 per cent UCO to qualify for the Renewable Fuel Standard.