By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Agency has actually introduced investigations into the supply chains of a minimum of two eco-friendly fuel manufacturers in the middle of industry concerns that some may be using deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to secure profitable government aids.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the firm has actually introduced audits over the past year, however decreased to determine the business targeted due to the fact that the investigations are ongoing.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable active ingredients, like utilized cooking oil, can make refiners a slew 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 actually been installing that some materials labeled as utilized cooking oil are actually more affordable and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is related to logging and other ecological damage.

The concern came into focus following a rise in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia recently that experts have actually stated includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil used and recovered in the area. The European Union is also examining feedstocks over the fraud concerns.

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

“EPA has actually performed audits of eco-friendly fuel manufacturers since July 2023 that includes, among other things, an assessment of the locations that utilized cooking oil used in eco-friendly fuel production was collected,” he said. “These investigations, nevertheless, are ongoing and we are not able to discuss continuous enforcement investigations.”

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

“The Biden administration has actually developed energetic standards to validate, not just trust, American producers, and it is imperative that the same examination is used 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 omit 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)