By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has actually released investigations into the supply chains of at least two renewable fuel manufacturers amid market concerns that some might be utilizing deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to protect profitable government aids.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the company has actually released audits over the past year, but declined to determine the business targeted because the examinations are ongoing.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable active ingredients, like utilized cooking oil, can make refiners a variety 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 supplies labeled as utilized cooking oil are in fact cheaper and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is connected with deforestation and other ecological damage.

The problem entered focus following a rise in used cooking oil exports from Asia in recent years that experts have actually said involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil used and recuperated in the region. The European Union is likewise investigating feedstocks over the scams concerns.

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

"EPA has actually performed audits of eco-friendly fuel producers because July 2023 that includes, among other things, an assessment of the places that used cooking oil used in renewable fuel production was collected," he said. "These investigations, nevertheless, are continuous and we are unable to talk about ongoing enforcement examinations."

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

"The Biden administration has actually produced energetic standards to confirm, not simply trust, American producers, and it is imperative that the same examination is applied to imported feedstocks," 6 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 prompted the administration to leave out 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)