By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has launched examinations into the supply chains of at least 2 renewable fuel producers in the middle of industry concerns that some might be utilizing fraudulent feedstocks for biodiesel to protect lucrative federal government aids.

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

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

The issue entered focus following a surge in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia in current years that experts have stated includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil utilized and recuperated in the region. The European Union is likewise feedstocks over the scams concerns.

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

"EPA has actually carried out audits of eco-friendly fuel manufacturers because July 2023 which includes, amongst other things, an examination of the places that utilized cooking oil used in sustainable fuel production was collected," he stated. "These examinations, nevertheless, are ongoing and we are unable to discuss 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 extensive in verifying imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.

"The Biden administration has actually developed energetic standards to verify, not simply trust, American producers, and it is necessary that the very same scrutiny is applied to imported feedstocks," six U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, composed in a June 20 letter to federal firms.

Another letter from 15 senators to the Treasury Department on July 30 urged the administration to omit imported feedstocks like UCO from an extra clean fuel tax credit program passed in the Inflation Reduction Act. (Reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Matthew Lewis)