By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has actually launched investigations into the supply chains of at least two eco-friendly fuel producers amidst market concerns that some may be utilizing fraudulent feedstocks for biodiesel to protect lucrative government subsidies.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the firm has launched audits over the past year, however decreased to determine the business targeted due to the fact that the examinations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable active ingredients, like utilized cooking oil, can earn refiners a variety 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 installing that some materials labeled as utilized cooking oil are actually cheaper and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is related to logging and other ecological damage.

The concern came into focus following a surge in used cooking oil exports from Asia in the last few years that experts have actually said includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil used and recuperated in the area. The European Union is also examining feedstocks over the scams concerns.

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

"EPA has conducted audits of eco-friendly fuel producers because July 2023 which consists of, to name a few things, an examination of the locations that utilized cooking oil utilized in sustainable fuel production was collected," he stated. "These investigations, however, are continuous and we are not able to talk about continuous enforcement examinations."

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

"The Biden administration has produced energetic standards to validate, not simply trust, American producers, and it is essential that the exact same analysis is applied to imported feedstocks," 6 U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, composed in a June 20 letter to federal agencies.

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)