By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has introduced examinations into the supply chains of at least 2 eco-friendly fuel manufacturers in the middle of industry concerns that some may be utilizing deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to secure financially rewarding federal government subsidies.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the firm has actually introduced audits over the past year, but declined to recognize the companies targeted due to the fact that the examinations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable active ingredients, like utilized cooking oil, can make refiners a slew of state and federal environmental 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 supplies labeled as used cooking oil are actually less expensive and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is related to logging and other ecological damage.

The problem entered focus following a surge in utilized cooking oil from Asia in the last few years that experts have actually stated includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil used and recovered in the area. The European Union is also examining feedstocks over the fraud concerns.

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

"EPA has actually performed audits of sustainable fuel producers given that July 2023 that includes, to name a few things, an evaluation of the areas that used cooking oil utilized in sustainable fuel production was collected," he stated. "These investigations, nevertheless, are ongoing and we are not able to talk about ongoing enforcement investigations."

U.S. senators from farm states have called for more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, stating federal companies should be as strenuous in verifying imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.

"The Biden administration has developed vigorous standards to validate, not just trust, American manufacturers, and it is crucial that the exact same examination is applied to imported feedstocks," 6 U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, composed in a June 20 letter to federal companies.

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