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 amidst industry concerns that some may be utilizing deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to protect financially rewarding government aids.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the firm has actually launched audits over the previous year, but decreased to identify the companies targeted since the investigations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable components, like used cooking oil, can earn refiners a slew of state and federal environmental and climate subsidies, consisting of tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But worries have been mounting that some materials identified as used cooking oil are in fact less expensive and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is related to logging and other environmental damage.

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

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

"EPA has actually conducted audits of sustainable fuel producers because July 2023 which includes, amongst other things, an evaluation of the places that utilized cooking oil utilized in renewable fuel production was collected," he stated. "These examinations, however, are ongoing and we are not able to go over continuous enforcement investigations."

U.S. senators from farm states have called for more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, saying federal firms need to be as strenuous in validating imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.

"The Biden administration has actually created vigorous standards to confirm, not just trust, American producers, and it is necessary that the same analysis is used to imported feedstocks," 6 U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, wrote in a June 20 letter to federal agencies.

Another letter from 15 senators to the Treasury Department on July 30 urged the administration to omit 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)