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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 industry concerns that some might be using deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to secure lucrative federal government subsidies.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the agency has actually released audits over the previous year, but decreased to determine the companies targeted because the examinations are ongoing.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable components, like utilized cooking oil, can make refiners a 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 mounting that some products labeled as used cooking oil are actually cheaper and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is connected with deforestation and other environmental damage.

The issue entered focus following a surge in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia recently that experts have actually said includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil utilized and recuperated in the region. The European Union is also examining feedstocks over the scams concerns.

The EPA audits started after the company updated domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for sustainable fuel manufacturers looking for to make credits under the RFS, he stated.

"EPA has performed audits of sustainable fuel manufacturers because July 2023 that includes, amongst other things, an examination of the locations that used cooking oil used in renewable fuel production was collected," he stated. "These examinations, however, are continuous and we are not able to discuss continuous enforcement investigations."

U.S. senators from farm states have called for more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, saying federal firms ought to be as strenuous in validating imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.

"The Biden administration has created energetic requirements to confirm, not just trust, American manufacturers, and it is imperative that the exact same scrutiny is used to imported feedstocks," 6 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 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)