By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has actually introduced investigations into the supply chains of a minimum of two renewable fuel producers amidst market concerns that some may be using deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to secure profitable government subsidies.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the company has actually released audits over the previous year, but declined to identify the companies targeted due to the fact that the investigations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable ingredients, like used cooking oil, can make refiners a variety of state and federal environmental and environment aids, including tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But fears have been mounting that some products labeled as used cooking oil are in fact more affordable and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is associated with logging and other ecological damage.

The issue came into focus following a rise in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia in recent years that experts have stated includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil utilized and recovered in the area. The European Union is likewise investigating feedstocks over the scams issues.

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

"EPA has actually performed audits of renewable fuel manufacturers considering that July 2023 that includes, amongst other things, an examination of the locations that utilized cooking oil utilized in sustainable fuel production was collected," he stated. "These examinations, however, are ongoing and we are unable to talk about ongoing enforcement investigations."

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

"The Biden administration has developed energetic standards to verify, not simply trust, American producers, and it is crucial that the very same analysis is applied 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 prompted the administration to leave out imported feedstocks like UCO from an extra tidy fuel tax credit program passed in the Inflation Reduction Act. (Reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Matthew Lewis)