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By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Epa has introduced examinations into the supply chains of a minimum of 2 renewable fuel producers amidst industry concerns that some may be using deceitful feedstocks for biodiesel to secure rewarding federal government subsidies.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis informed Reuters that the company has launched audits over the past year, however declined to recognize the companies targeted because the examinations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable components, like used cooking oil, can earn refiners a multitude of state and federal ecological and environment subsidies, including tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But worries have been installing that some materials identified as used cooking oil are in fact cheaper and less sustainable virgin palm oil, an item that is associated with logging and other ecological damage.

The concern entered focus following a rise in used cooking oil exports from Asia in recent years that experts have stated involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the quantity of cooking oil used and recuperated in the area. The European Union is likewise investigating feedstocks over the .

The EPA audits started after the company upgraded domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for sustainable fuel producers looking for to make credits under the RFS, he said.

"EPA has carried out audits of sustainable fuel manufacturers considering that July 2023 which includes, amongst other things, an evaluation of the areas that used cooking oil used in eco-friendly fuel production was collected," he said. "These investigations, nevertheless, are continuous and we are not able to discuss continuous enforcement investigations."

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

"The Biden administration has created energetic standards to confirm, not simply trust, American producers, and it is important that the very same scrutiny 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 urged the administration to leave out imported feedstocks like UCO from an extra clean fuel tax credit program passed in the Inflation Reduction Act. (Reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Matthew Lewis)