By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has released examinations into the supply chains of a minimum of 2 renewable fuel manufacturers in the middle of market issues that some might be utilizing deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to secure lucrative government aids.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the agency has launched audits over the previous year, but declined to recognize the business targeted because the examinations are ongoing.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable components, like utilized cooking oil, can make refiners a multitude of state and federal ecological and subsidies, consisting of tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But worries have been installing that some materials identified as utilized cooking oil are really more affordable and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is related to logging and other ecological damage.

The problem entered focus following a surge in used cooking oil exports from Asia recently that analysts have actually said involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil utilized and recuperated in the area. The European Union is likewise investigating feedstocks over the scams issues.

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

"EPA has performed audits of eco-friendly fuel producers considering that July 2023 which consists of, to name a few things, an examination of the places that utilized cooking oil used in eco-friendly fuel production was gathered," he said. "These examinations, nevertheless, are ongoing and we are not able to discuss continuous enforcement examinations."

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

"The Biden administration has actually created vigorous requirements to confirm, not simply trust, American manufacturers, and it is vital that the exact 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 companies.

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)