By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has introduced investigations into the supply chains of a minimum of two renewable fuel producers amid industry concerns that some might be using deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to protect profitable federal government aids.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the company has released audits over the past year, but declined to identify the business targeted due to the fact that the investigations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable components, like utilized cooking oil, can earn refiners a multitude of state and federal ecological and environment subsidies, including tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But fears have been installing that some supplies identified as used cooking oil are really cheaper and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is associated with logging and other environmental damage.

The problem entered focus following a surge in used cooking oil exports from Asia over the last few years that analysts have actually said involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil utilized and recuperated in the area. The European Union is likewise investigating feedstocks over the scams concerns.

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

"EPA has actually carried out audits of renewable fuel manufacturers because July 2023 which includes, to name a few things, an evaluation of the locations that used cooking oil utilized in eco-friendly fuel production was gathered," he said. "These examinations, nevertheless, are ongoing and we are not able to talk about ongoing enforcement investigations."

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

"The Biden administration has created energetic standards to verify, not just trust, American producers, and it is essential that the same analysis is applied to imported feedstocks," six 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 advised 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)