By Leah Douglas


Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has actually introduced examinations into the supply chains of a minimum of two renewable fuel producers amidst industry issues that some might be utilizing deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to protect financially rewarding government aids.


EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the agency has launched audits over the past year, but decreased to identify the business targeted because the investigations are continuous.


The production of biodiesel from sustainable ingredients, like used cooking oil, can earn refiners a variety of state and federal environmental and climate aids, including tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But worries have been mounting that some supplies identified as used cooking oil are actually less expensive and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is associated with logging and other ecological damage.


The problem entered into focus following a surge in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia recently that analysts have stated involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil utilized and recuperated in the area. The European Union is likewise examining feedstocks over the fraud issues.


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 actually conducted audits of sustainable fuel producers since July 2023 that includes, among other things, an assessment of the locations that used cooking oil utilized in sustainable fuel production was collected," he said. "These examinations, nevertheless, are continuous and we are unable to go over ongoing enforcement investigations."


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


"The Biden administration has actually produced vigorous standards to verify, not just trust, American manufacturers, and it is vital that the exact same scrutiny is applied 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 prompted 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)