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By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has introduced examinations into the supply chains of at least two renewable fuel manufacturers amid market concerns that some might be using deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to secure lucrative federal government aids.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the agency has introduced audits over the previous year, however declined to determine the business targeted because the investigations are ongoing.

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

The concern entered into focus following a rise in used cooking oil exports from Asia over the last few years that analysts have actually stated includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil utilized and recovered in the region. The European Union is likewise investigating feedstocks over the scams concerns.

The EPA audits began after the company updated domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for renewable fuel manufacturers looking for to make credits under the RFS, he said.

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

U.S. senators from farm states have required more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, stating federal companies must be as extensive in verifying imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.

"The Biden administration has actually produced energetic requirements to verify, not simply trust, American manufacturers, and it is essential that the exact same scrutiny is applied to imported feedstocks," 6 U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, wrote in a June 20 letter to .

Another letter from 15 senators to the Treasury Department on July 30 urged the administration to leave out 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)