By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has actually introduced examinations into the supply chains of at least two renewable fuel producers amidst market issues that some might be utilizing deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to secure profitable federal government subsidies.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the agency has actually introduced audits over the past year, however declined to determine the companies targeted due to the fact that the examinations are ongoing.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable components, like utilized cooking oil, can earn refiners a variety of state and federal ecological and environment aids, including tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But worries have been mounting that some supplies identified as utilized cooking oil are really cheaper and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is associated with logging and other environmental damage.

The concern came into focus following a surge in used cooking oil exports from Asia recently that analysts have said involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil utilized and recovered in the area. The European Union is likewise examining feedstocks over the fraud issues.

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

"EPA has carried out audits of eco-friendly fuel manufacturers since July 2023 that includes, among other things, an assessment of the places that utilized cooking oil utilized in renewable fuel production was collected," he said. "These investigations, however, are continuous and we are not able to go over continuous enforcement investigations."

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

"The Biden administration has actually created energetic standards to verify, not just trust, American producers, and it is essential that the exact same analysis is used to imported feedstocks," six 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 leave out 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)