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By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has released examinations into the supply chains of at least two sustainable fuel manufacturers amidst market issues that some may be utilizing deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to secure financially rewarding federal .

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the firm has actually launched audits over the past year, however declined to identify the business targeted due to the fact that the examinations are ongoing.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable ingredients, like used cooking oil, can make refiners a multitude 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 been mounting that some products identified as used cooking oil are really cheaper and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is related to logging and other environmental damage.

The concern entered into focus following a rise in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia over the last few years that experts have actually stated includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil utilized and recuperated in the region. The European Union is also examining feedstocks over the scams issues.

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

"EPA has actually performed audits of renewable fuel manufacturers considering that July 2023 that includes, among other things, an assessment of the places that used cooking oil used in renewable fuel production was gathered," he said. "These investigations, however, are ongoing and we are unable to go over ongoing enforcement investigations."

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

"The Biden administration has produced energetic standards to confirm, not just trust, American producers, and it is imperative that the very same examination is used to imported feedstocks," six U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, wrote 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)