By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has actually launched examinations into the supply chains of a minimum of two eco-friendly fuel producers amid industry issues that some may be using deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to secure profitable federal government aids.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the company has actually launched audits over the past year, however decreased to recognize 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 climate aids, including tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But worries have been installing that some supplies labeled as utilized cooking oil are in fact more affordable and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is related to deforestation and other ecological damage.

The concern came into focus following a surge in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia recently that experts have actually stated includes 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 firm updated domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for eco-friendly fuel producers seeking to make credits under the RFS, he said.

"EPA has conducted audits of sustainable fuel producers since July 2023 which includes, to name a few things, an evaluation of the places that utilized cooking oil utilized in renewable fuel production was collected," he stated. "These examinations, nevertheless, are ongoing and we are not able to talk about continuous enforcement examinations."

U.S. senators from farm states have called for more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, saying federal companies must be as rigorous in confirming imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.

"The Biden administration has actually created energetic requirements to validate, not simply trust, American producers, and it is crucial that the 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 agencies.

Another letter from 15 senators to the Treasury Department on July 30 the administration to leave out 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)