By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has actually released examinations into the supply chains of a minimum of two sustainable fuel manufacturers amid industry issues that some may be using deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to protect financially aids.

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

The production of biodiesel from sustainable active ingredients, like utilized cooking oil, can make refiners a variety of state and federal environmental and climate aids, consisting of tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But worries have been mounting that some products identified as used cooking oil are in fact more affordable and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is connected with deforestation and other environmental damage.

The issue entered focus following a rise in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia over the last few years that analysts have said involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil used and recovered in the region. The European Union is likewise examining feedstocks over the scams issues.

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

"EPA has carried out audits of renewable fuel producers because July 2023 which includes, among other things, an assessment of the locations that used cooking oil used in sustainable fuel production was gathered," he stated. "These investigations, however, are continuous and we are unable to discuss ongoing enforcement investigations."

U.S. senators from farm states have actually required more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, stating federal firms must be as extensive in validating imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.

"The Biden administration has actually developed vigorous standards to validate, not just trust, American manufacturers, and it is vital that the very same analysis 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 prompted the administration to omit 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)