By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has introduced investigations into the supply chains of a minimum of 2 renewable fuel producers in the middle of industry issues that some might be using deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to protect lucrative federal government subsidies.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the company has actually over the previous year, but declined to determine the business targeted since the investigations are continuous.

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

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

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

"EPA has actually carried out audits of eco-friendly fuel manufacturers because July 2023 which consists of, to name a few things, an examination of the areas that utilized cooking oil utilized in sustainable fuel production was gathered," he stated. "These investigations, however, are ongoing and we are not able to go over continuous enforcement examinations."

U.S. senators from farm states have actually required more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, saying federal firms ought to be as rigorous in confirming imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.

"The Biden administration has actually developed energetic requirements to verify, not just trust, American manufacturers, and it is crucial that the exact same examination 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 exclude 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)