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By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has released examinations into the supply chains of a minimum of 2 sustainable fuel producers amidst market issues that some might be utilizing fraudulent feedstocks for biodiesel to protect profitable federal government aids.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the firm has released audits over the past year, but declined to determine the business targeted due to the fact that the investigations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable ingredients, like utilized cooking oil, can earn refiners a of state and federal ecological and environment aids, consisting of tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But worries have been installing that some materials 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 ecological damage.

The concern entered focus following a surge in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia recently that experts have actually said involves 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 scams concerns.

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

"EPA has actually conducted audits of eco-friendly fuel manufacturers given that July 2023 which consists of, to name a few things, an evaluation of the locations that utilized cooking oil utilized in eco-friendly fuel production was gathered," he said. "These investigations, nevertheless, are ongoing and we are not able to discuss ongoing enforcement examinations."

U.S. senators from farm states have required more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, stating federal agencies need to be as strenuous in confirming imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.

"The Biden administration has actually developed vigorous standards to confirm, not just trust, American manufacturers, and it is essential that the very same analysis is applied to imported feedstocks," six U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, wrote 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)