By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has released investigations into the supply chains of at least 2 eco-friendly fuel producers amidst market concerns that some may be utilizing deceptive for biodiesel to protect profitable federal government aids.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the agency has launched audits over the past year, but decreased to recognize the companies targeted because the examinations are ongoing.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable components, like used cooking oil, can earn 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 mounting that some products identified as utilized cooking oil are in fact less expensive and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is related to deforestation and other ecological damage.

The problem entered focus following a surge in used cooking oil exports from Asia recently that experts have stated involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil used and recovered in the area. The European Union is likewise examining feedstocks over the scams issues.

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

"EPA has actually performed audits of renewable fuel producers because July 2023 which includes, among other things, an assessment of the areas that utilized cooking oil used in sustainable fuel production was collected," he stated. "These investigations, nevertheless, are ongoing and we are unable to talk about continuous enforcement examinations."

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

"The Biden administration has developed energetic requirements to verify, not just trust, American producers, and it is essential that the exact same scrutiny is used 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 advised the administration to omit 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)