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By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has actually introduced examinations into the supply chains of at least two renewable fuel manufacturers in the middle of industry issues that some might be utilizing deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to protect rewarding government aids.

EPA representative Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the company has actually launched audits over the previous year, however decreased to identify the companies targeted because the examinations are ongoing.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable components, like utilized cooking oil, can make refiners a multitude of state and federal environmental and environment subsidies, including tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But worries have actually been mounting that some supplies labeled as utilized cooking oil are really more affordable and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is with deforestation and other environmental damage.

The problem came into focus following a surge in used cooking oil exports from Asia in current years that analysts have actually said includes unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil utilized and recovered in the area. The European Union is likewise examining feedstocks over the fraud concerns.

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

"EPA has actually performed audits of renewable fuel producers given that July 2023 which includes, among other things, an assessment of the places that utilized cooking oil utilized in eco-friendly 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 required more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, saying federal firms must be as rigorous in validating imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.

"The Biden administration has developed energetic requirements to verify, not just trust, American manufacturers, and it is imperative that the same analysis is applied to imported feedstocks," six U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, composed in a June 20 letter to federal companies.

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