By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has released examinations into the supply chains of at least 2 sustainable fuel producers amid industry concerns that some may be utilizing deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to protect profitable federal government subsidies.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the agency has released audits over the previous year, but decreased to recognize the companies targeted since the investigations are ongoing.

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

The concern came into focus following a surge in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia in the last few years that experts have said involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil utilized and recovered in the area. The European Union is likewise examining feedstocks over the scams concerns.

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

"EPA has actually performed audits of renewable fuel manufacturers because July 2023 that includes, to name a few things, an assessment of the locations that utilized cooking oil used in sustainable fuel production was collected," he said. "These examinations, nevertheless, are ongoing and we are unable to go over 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 actually developed energetic standards to confirm, not simply trust, American producers, and it is important that the very same analysis is applied to imported feedstocks," 6 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 urged the administration to omit 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)