Grassley, Ernst Press EPA on Used Cooking Oil Imports

Grassley, Ernst Press EPA on Used Cooking Oil Imports

Bipartisan lawmakers are concerned the flood of imports could unfairly undermine American producers, domestic feedstock industry.

WASHINGTON - Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), a member of the Senate Finance and Agriculture Committees, joined Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and bipartisan colleagues in demanding answers from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regarding its process for verifying the authenticity of used cooking oil (UCO) imports.

Grassley and colleagues in June first probed EPA, along with Customs and Border Protection (CBP), about the validity of UCO imports in light of a massive year-over-year imports increase. In response to Congress, Senior CBP official Troy Miller admitted CBP considers UCO as "pure" even when commingled with virgin vegetable oil, such as palm oil. Based on this admission, the senators are slamming EPA's existing verification process as "meaningless."

"Without a robust verification process, the credibility of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) is at risk, and American farmers are likely missing out on key market opportunities. For example, through August, the U.S. has imported a historic 3.2 billion pounds of UCO in 2024 according to the U.S. Census Bureau. This is enough product to displace approximately 270 million bushels of soybeans," the senators wrote.

"American farmers should not continue paying the price of an inadequate and incomplete foreign feedstock verification system," they concluded.

The letter was cosigned by Sens. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.) and Jerry Moran (R-Kan.).

Read the senators' letter HERE.

Background:

As a longtime advocate of homegrown energy, Grassley is spearheading several additional initiatives to support U.S. biofuel feedstock producers, including:

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