Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) is concerned about rumors the Renewable Volume Obligations the Biden administration is reportedly set to release on Friday.

“You know what happens if something is unpopular it always happens at five o’clock on Friday,” said Grassley during his weekly press call with farm reporters Tuesday. “If we get a bad RVO out of EPA, the farmers aren’t going to forget it and they’re going to blame Biden.”

Concerns within the industry about media reports suggesting the Biden administration was planning to retroactively reduce 2020 volumes have been expressed during meetings with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) over the past two weeks. “It is our sincere hope that these news reports are mistaken,” said the Renewable Fuels Association in written comments to OMB. “Retrospective revisions to the 2020 RVO would further destabilize the renewable fuels industry and farm sector, both of which are still struggling to recover from COVID-related market disruptions.”

RFA notified reporters Wednesday that an email with false 2020-2022 RVO numbers that “were supposedly shared by RFA with its members” was being circulated. “We want you to know that this is a complete fabrication and a shameful ‘spoofing’ attempt,” said RFA Communications Director Ken Colombini in a statement. “RFA never sent any such email or circulated any potential RVO numbers to our member companies. RFA does not have any information regarding the 2021-2022 RVO numbers or possible revisions to the 2020 RVO. Like everyone else, we are anxiously awaiting the public release of the RVO proposals and will have more information and comment at that time.”