By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has actually released investigations into the supply chains of at least two renewable fuel producers in the middle of industry concerns that some may be using deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to protect financially subsidies.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the firm has launched audits over the previous year, but declined to determine the companies targeted due to the fact that the examinations are ongoing.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable components, like utilized cooking oil, can make refiners a variety of state and federal ecological and environment subsidies, including tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But fears have been installing that some products identified as used cooking oil are really less expensive and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is connected with logging and other environmental damage.

The problem entered into focus following a rise in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia over the last few years that experts have stated involves 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 fraud concerns.

The EPA audits began after the agency upgraded domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for sustainable fuel producers looking for to earn credits under the RFS, he stated.

"EPA has performed audits of sustainable fuel manufacturers because July 2023 that includes, amongst other things, an assessment of the places that utilized cooking oil used in renewable fuel production was collected,” he said. “These investigations, nevertheless, are continuous and we are unable to discuss continuous enforcement investigations.“

U.S. senators from farm states have required more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, stating federal firms need to be as rigorous in verifying imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.

"The Biden administration has created vigorous standards to verify, not just trust, American producers, and it is imperative that the exact same analysis is applied to imported feedstocks,” 6 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 advised 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)