EPA approves new biodiesel rules

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has confirmed rules that create a programme to control fraud and adopt new technologies.

The programme will tackle fraud in biodiesel credits and will also add new technologies to its list of approved renewable fuels.

As the fraud rule aims to prevent biofuel refiners from becoming the victims of fraud, an auditing system has been set up to ensure the legality of renewable identification numbers (RINs).

Retroactive to January 2013, the rule has been adopted in response to a series of fraud cases where individuals made millions of dollars by selling RINs for biodiesel that was never produced.

The agency also confirmed the adoption of a rule that allows compressed and liquefied natural gas that is produced from various sources of biogas to be eligible for credit under the renewable fuel standard.

'This action has the potential to provide notable volumes of cellulosic biofuel to the marketplace,' EPA said in a statement.