By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has released investigations into the supply chains of a minimum of 2 renewable fuel manufacturers amid industry concerns that some may be utilizing deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to secure lucrative federal government aids.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the agency has actually released audits over the past year, but decreased to identify the companies targeted due to the fact that the investigations are ongoing.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable ingredients, like used cooking oil, can make refiners a variety 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 actually been installing that some products labeled as used cooking oil are actually less expensive and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is related to logging and other ecological damage.

The problem entered focus following a rise in utilized 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 utilized and recovered in the region. The European Union is likewise investigating feedstocks over the fraud concerns.

The EPA audits started after the domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for eco-friendly fuel producers seeking to earn credits under the RFS, he said.

"EPA has actually carried out audits of renewable fuel producers since July 2023 that includes, to name a few things, an assessment of the locations that used cooking oil used in eco-friendly fuel production was collected," he said. "These examinations, nevertheless, are continuous and we are unable to talk about continuous enforcement examinations."

U.S. senators from farm states have required more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, saying federal agencies need to be as extensive in validating imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.

"The Biden administration has developed vigorous requirements to verify, not just trust, American manufacturers, and it is crucial that the exact same analysis is used to imported feedstocks," 6 U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, wrote in a June 20 letter to federal companies.

Another letter from 15 senators to the Treasury Department on July 30 advised 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)