By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has actually launched examinations into the supply chains of a minimum of 2 renewable fuel manufacturers amid market issues that some might be using deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to secure rewarding federal government subsidies.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the company has actually launched audits over the past year, but decreased to identify the companies targeted because the investigations are .

The production of biodiesel from sustainable active ingredients, like used cooking oil, can earn refiners a multitude of state and federal environmental and environment subsidies, including tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But fears have been installing that some materials identified as used cooking oil are in fact less expensive and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is connected with deforestation and other environmental damage.

The issue entered focus following a surge in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia over the last few years that analysts have stated involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil utilized and recovered in the area. The European Union is likewise examining feedstocks over the fraud concerns.

The EPA audits began after the company 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 performed audits of sustainable fuel manufacturers considering that July 2023 that includes, amongst other things, an assessment of the places that utilized cooking oil used in renewable fuel production was gathered," he stated. "These investigations, however, are continuous and we are not able to go over continuous enforcement examinations."

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

"The Biden administration has actually produced vigorous requirements to confirm, not just trust, American manufacturers, and it is imperative that the very 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 firms.

Another letter from 15 senators to the Treasury Department on July 30 prompted the administration to exclude imported feedstocks like UCO from an additional clean fuel tax credit program passed in the Inflation Reduction Act. (Reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Matthew Lewis)