DOE review of high-energy crop tests renews debate on invasive species

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is set to launch an environmental review of its plan to field test engineered high-energy crops (EHEC) that could serve as a feedstock for biofuels. This process is likely to renew debate on the crops’ invasive potential and the adequacy of recent EPA efforts to address similar concerns in its renewable fuel standard (RFS) program.
Some environmentalists are charging that the EPA should not have approved two new biofuels feedstocks in the RFS program until more research had been conducted on the plants’ invasive potential. They are concerned that encouraging use of the crops could open the door to the spread of invasive species, which could potentially damage natural habitats.
The DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) held a series of meetings in July to present its planned program environmental impact statement (PEIS) and to solicit input. These meetings were held in Kentucky, Mississippi, and North Carolina, states where the climate is favorable for growing such plants. The DOE also held a web meeting.
The DOE in its PEIS announcement cited invasive species as just one of the environmental or resource impact issues on which it is inviting comments. They also want to hear about impacts on water resources, food and feed crop supplies, air quality, greenhouse gases, land use, environmental justice and wilderness areas.
The agency also says it will assess cumulative impacts of its program from “past, present and reasonably foreseeable future actions,” including the use of EHECs.
The notice defines EHECs as crops containing, “genetic material that has been intentionally introduced through biotechnology, inter-specific hybridization, or other engineering processes . . . and specifically engineered to produce more energy per acre by producing fuel molecules that can be introduced easily into existing energy infrastructure.”
The DOE is planning to provide financial assistance for field trials to evaluate the performance of EHECs in fields ranging in size from 5 acres to 15,000 acres. The plants in the trial include GMO versions of camelina, loblolly pine, tobacco, giant cane, sugarcane, miscanthus, sorghum, giant reed, napier and switchgrass.
ARPA-E also calls for confined field trials to test the viability of EHECs under real field conditions and local environments, noting that the crops would be grown only after obtaining regulatory permits that include procedures to limit the unintentional spread of the crop.
The notice also cites federal safeguards that would apply for each field trial. These include required permitting from the Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant health inspection service, including analysis of the project under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The EPA will be responsible for regulating plants genetically engineered to take on pesticidal properties and the Food and Drug Administration will regulate engineered crops that may come into contact with food, according to the notice.
(July 17, 2013)