By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has introduced examinations into the supply chains of at least 2 renewable fuel manufacturers amid market concerns that some might be utilizing deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to protect financially rewarding federal government aids.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the firm has actually introduced audits over the past year, however declined to identify the companies targeted due to the fact that the investigations are ongoing.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable ingredients, like used cooking oil, can earn refiners a slew of state and federal ecological and environment subsidies, consisting of tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But fears have actually been installing that some supplies identified as utilized cooking oil are in fact less expensive and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is associated with logging and other ecological damage.

The concern entered into focus following a surge in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia in recent years that experts have stated involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil utilized and recovered in the area. The European Union is likewise investigating feedstocks over the fraud issues.

The EPA audits started after the firm upgraded domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for eco-friendly fuel manufacturers looking for to earn credits under the RFS, he stated.

"EPA has actually carried out audits of renewable fuel producers given that July 2023 that includes, to name a few things, an examination of the areas that used cooking oil used in eco-friendly fuel production was gathered," he said. "These examinations, however, are continuous and we are not able to talk about ongoing enforcement investigations."

U.S. senators from farm states have required more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, saying federal companies should be as extensive in verifying imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.

"The Biden administration has developed energetic standards to validate, not just trust, American manufacturers, and it is essential that the exact same examination is applied to imported feedstocks," 6 U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, composed in a June 20 letter to federal firms.

Another letter from 15 senators to the Treasury Department on July 30 prompted the administration to exclude imported feedstocks like UCO from an extra clean fuel tax credit program passed in the Inflation Reduction Act. (Reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Matthew Lewis)