By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has actually released investigations into the supply chains of a minimum of two eco-friendly fuel manufacturers amidst industry issues that some may be using deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to protect financially rewarding federal government subsidies.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the firm has launched audits over the previous year, however declined to recognize the business targeted since the investigations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable components, like utilized cooking oil, can earn refiners a variety of state and federal environmental and environment subsidies, 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 utilized cooking oil are in fact more affordable and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is related to deforestation and other ecological damage.

The concern entered into focus following a surge in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia over the last few years that experts have stated involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil utilized and recuperated in the area. The European Union is also investigating feedstocks over the fraud issues.

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

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

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

"The Biden administration has actually developed vigorous standards to verify, not just trust, American producers, and it is vital that the same examination 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 clean fuel tax credit program passed in the Inflation Reduction Act. ( by Leah Douglas in Washington Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Matthew Lewis)