By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has actually released examinations into the supply chains of a minimum of 2 eco-friendly fuel manufacturers in the middle of market concerns that some may be using deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to secure lucrative federal government aids.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the firm has actually released audits over the previous year, but declined to identify the business targeted since the examinations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable ingredients, like utilized cooking oil, can earn refiners a variety of state and federal ecological and environment subsidies, including tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But fears have been installing that some materials identified as used cooking oil are in fact cheaper and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is related to deforestation and other ecological damage.

The concern entered into focus following a surge in used cooking oil exports from Asia in current years that experts have stated involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil utilized and recuperated in the region. The European Union is likewise investigating feedstocks over the scams concerns.

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

"EPA has actually performed audits of eco-friendly fuel producers considering that July 2023 that includes, to name a few things, an assessment of the places that utilized cooking oil used in sustainable fuel production was gathered," he said. "These examinations, nevertheless, are continuous and we are unable to go over continuous enforcement investigations."

U.S. senators from farm states have actually required more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, stating federal companies ought to be as strenuous in confirming imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.

"The Biden administration has actually produced vigorous requirements to verify, not just trust, American manufacturers, and it is essential that the very same analysis is used 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 urged the administration to omit 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)