By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has launched examinations into the supply chains of a minimum of 2 renewable fuel producers amidst market issues that some may be using deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to protect financially rewarding government aids.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the agency has introduced audits over the previous year, however declined to determine the business targeted due to the fact that the examinations are ongoing.

The production of biodiesel from ingredients, like utilized cooking oil, can make refiners a multitude of state and federal ecological and climate subsidies, consisting of tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But fears have been installing that some products labeled as used cooking oil are really more affordable and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is associated with logging and other environmental damage.

The problem came into 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 used and recuperated in the region. The European Union is also investigating feedstocks over the fraud issues.

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

"EPA has performed audits of sustainable fuel manufacturers because July 2023 which includes, to name a few things, an examination of the locations that used cooking oil utilized in eco-friendly fuel production was gathered," he stated. "These investigations, however, are continuous and we are unable to go over ongoing enforcement examinations."

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

"The Biden administration has developed energetic requirements to validate, not just trust, American producers, and it is vital that the same examination is used to imported feedstocks," six 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 exclude 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)