By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has actually released examinations into the supply chains of at least two eco-friendly fuel manufacturers amidst industry issues that some might be using fraudulent feedstocks for biodiesel to protect rewarding federal government aids.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the firm has actually released audits over the previous year, but declined to determine the business targeted since the investigations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable active ingredients, like utilized cooking oil, can make refiners a multitude of state and federal environmental and climate aids, consisting of tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But worries have actually been installing that some products identified as utilized cooking oil are really cheaper 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 utilized cooking oil exports from Asia recently that analysts have said involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil used and recuperated in the region. The European Union is also investigating feedstocks over the scams concerns.

The EPA audits started after the agency updated domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for eco-friendly fuel manufacturers looking for to make credits under the RFS, he stated.

"EPA has actually performed audits of sustainable fuel producers 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 said. "These examinations, nevertheless, are ongoing and we are not able to talk about ongoing enforcement investigations."

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

"The Biden administration has actually produced vigorous requirements to confirm, not simply trust, American producers, and it is important that the exact same scrutiny is applied 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 omit 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)