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By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has launched examinations into the supply chains of at least 2 eco-friendly fuel manufacturers amidst industry issues that some may be using deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to secure profitable government subsidies.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the agency has actually introduced audits over the previous year, however decreased to identify the companies targeted because the investigations are ongoing.

The production of biodiesel from components, like utilized cooking oil, can earn refiners a multitude of state and federal ecological and environment aids, 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 utilized cooking oil are really less expensive and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is connected with logging and other environmental damage.

The concern came into focus following a surge in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia over the last few years that experts have actually said includes 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 scams issues.

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

"EPA has actually performed audits of eco-friendly fuel manufacturers because July 2023 that includes, to name a few things, an evaluation of the locations that used cooking oil utilized in sustainable fuel production was gathered," he said. "These examinations, however, are continuous and we are not able to go over continuous enforcement investigations."

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

"The Biden administration has actually created energetic standards to validate, not simply trust, American manufacturers, and it is necessary that the exact same analysis is applied to imported feedstocks," 6 U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, composed in a June 20 letter to federal agencies.

Another letter from 15 senators to the Treasury Department on July 30 advised the administration to leave out 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)