By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has actually released examinations into the supply chains of at least 2 sustainable fuel producers amid market issues that some may be using deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to secure rewarding government aids.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the agency has actually launched audits over the previous year, however decreased to identify the business targeted due to the fact that the examinations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable ingredients, like utilized cooking oil, can earn refiners a variety of state and federal environmental and environment subsidies, including tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But worries have actually been installing that some products identified as utilized cooking oil are actually less expensive and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is connected with logging and other ecological damage.

The concern entered focus following a surge in used cooking oil exports from Asia in the last few years that analysts have actually said involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil utilized and recovered in the region. The European Union is also investigating feedstocks over the fraud issues.

The EPA audits began after the firm updated domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for eco-friendly fuel producers seeking to make credits under the RFS, he stated.

"EPA has conducted audits of sustainable fuel manufacturers considering that July 2023 which consists of, amongst other things, an examination of the locations that utilized cooking oil used in sustainable fuel production was gathered," he stated. "These investigations, nevertheless, are ongoing and we are not able to discuss continuous enforcement investigations."

U.S. senators from farm states have actually required more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, saying federal agencies ought to be as extensive in validating imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.

"The Biden administration has developed vigorous standards to verify, not simply trust, American producers, and it is essential that the very same examination is used to imported feedstocks," 6 U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, wrote in a June 20 letter to federal firms.

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