The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said it has invalidated 33.5 million renewable-fuel credits sold by an Indiana company for biofuel it didn’t produce, the fourth time the agency has alleged fraud in the program, Bloomberg News reported.
The filing follows fraud charges filed against the former owners of the Indiana-based E-Biofuels LLC in September. The U.S. Justice Department accused them of falsely claiming its products qualified under government incentives for renewable fuels. At today’s value of about 40 cents each for biodiesel, the invalidated RINs would have been worth about $13.4 million
EPA's action may further roil the market for credits used by refiners such as Valero Corp. and Exxon Mobil Corp. to meet government renewable-fuel requirements, according to Bloomberg. Under U.S. law, refiners such as Exxon and Valero must blend ethanol or other biofuels into their fuels. EPA rules allow refiners to buy credits from other producers to fulfill their obligations in lieu of making the fuel themselves.
Before this latest action, the agency had said three companies produced a total of 140 million fraudulent Renewable Identification Numbers, or RINs.
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