By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has introduced examinations into the supply chains of a minimum of 2 sustainable fuel producers amidst market issues that some might be using deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to protect profitable government aids.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the agency has launched audits over the past year, but decreased to determine the business targeted because the examinations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable active ingredients, like utilized cooking oil, can earn refiners a slew of state and federal environmental 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 in fact less expensive and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is connected with logging and other environmental damage.

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

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

"EPA has performed audits of eco-friendly fuel producers considering that July 2023 which includes, to name a few things, an examination of the places that used cooking oil used in eco-friendly fuel production was collected," he said. "These investigations, nevertheless, are continuous and we are unable to go over ongoing enforcement examinations."

U.S. from farm states have actually required more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, stating federal agencies must be as rigorous in confirming imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.

"The Biden administration has actually produced energetic standards to verify, not just trust, American producers, and it is important that the very same scrutiny is applied to imported feedstocks," six U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, composed in a June 20 letter to federal companies.

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