By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has into the supply chains of at least two renewable fuel manufacturers in the middle of market concerns that some may be using deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to secure lucrative government subsidies.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the company has released audits over the previous year, but decreased to determine the companies targeted due to the fact that the examinations are ongoing.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable ingredients, like utilized cooking oil, can make refiners a variety of state and federal environmental and climate aids, consisting of tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But fears have been mounting that some materials identified as utilized cooking oil are actually less expensive and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is associated with logging and other ecological damage.

The problem entered focus following a surge in used cooking oil exports from Asia over the last few years that experts have actually stated includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil utilized and recovered in the area. The European Union is also examining feedstocks over the scams concerns.

The EPA audits began after the company upgraded domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for renewable fuel producers looking for to earn credits under the RFS, he said.

“EPA has actually performed audits of sustainable fuel manufacturers considering that July 2023 that includes, to name a few things, an assessment of the locations that utilized cooking oil used in eco-friendly fuel production was gathered,” he said. “These investigations, however, are ongoing and we are unable to discuss continuous enforcement investigations.”

U.S. senators from farm states have required more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, saying federal firms must be as strenuous in confirming imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.

“The Biden administration has produced vigorous requirements to confirm, not simply trust, American producers, and it is important that the exact same analysis is applied to imported feedstocks,” six 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 leave out imported feedstocks like UCO from an additional tidy fuel tax credit program passed in the Inflation Reduction Act. (Reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Matthew Lewis)