By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has actually introduced investigations into the supply chains of at least two eco-friendly fuel producers amidst industry concerns that some might be utilizing deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to secure rewarding federal government aids.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the company has introduced audits over the previous year, however declined to determine the business targeted since the investigations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable active ingredients, like used cooking oil, can earn refiners a variety 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 mounting that some products identified as used cooking oil are actually less expensive and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is associated with logging and other ecological damage.

The concern came into focus following a surge in used cooking oil exports from Asia over the last few years that analysts have said involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil utilized and recuperated in the region. The European Union is also investigating feedstocks over the fraud concerns.

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

"EPA has actually carried out audits of renewable fuel producers because July 2023 which consists of, among 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 required more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, saying federal companies ought to be as extensive in confirming imports as they are domestic supply chains.

"The Biden administration has created vigorous standards to verify, not just trust, American producers, and it is important that the exact same scrutiny is used to imported feedstocks,” 6 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 omit imported feedstocks like UCO from an extra clean fuel tax credit program passed in the Inflation Reduction Act. (Reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Matthew Lewis)