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Engineered High Energy Crop (EHEC) Programs

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Engineered High Energy Crop (EHEC) Programs THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK Engineered High Energy Crop Programs Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement DOE/EIS-0481 JULY 2015 THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK Engineered High Energy Crop Programs Final PEIS Responsible Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Energy, Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy Cooperating Agencies: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service; U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service Title: Engineered High Energy Crop Programs Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (DOE/EIS-0481) Location: Southeastern United States, specifically Alabama, Florida (excluding the Everglades/Southern Florida coastal plain ecoregion), Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. Contact: For further information about this Programmatic For general information on DOE implementation of the Environmental Impact Statement, contact: National Environmental Policy Act, contact: Jonathan Burbaum, Program Director Carol Borgstrom, Director ARPA–E (Mailstop-950–8043) Office of NEPA Policy and Compliance (GC-54) ATTN: EHEC PEIS U.S. Department of Energy U.S. Department of Energy 1000 Independence Avenue SW 1000 Independence Avenue SW Washington, DC 20585-0103 Washington, DC 20585 (202) 586-4600 or (800) 472-2756 [email protected] (202) 287-5453 Abstract: The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA–E) prepared this Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS)1 to evaluate the potential environmental impacts of the Proposed Action to develop and implement one or more programs to catalyze the research, development, and demonstration of engineered high energy crops (EHECs) in the Southeastern United States. EHECs are agriculturally-viable photosynthetic species containing genetic material that have been intentionally introduced through biotechnology, interspecific hybridization, or other engineering processes (excluding processes that occur in nature without human intervention), and specifically engineered to increase energy production independent of increasing the amount of biomass by producing fuel molecules that can be introduced easily into existing energy infrastructure. EHECs present a promising renewable energy source that, by virtue of biological carbon capture, has a reduced carbon life-cycle, thereby may decrease the production of greenhouse gasses, and allow for domestic production of renewable fuels. A main component of the proposed EHEC Programs would be DOE or other Federal or state agencies providing financial assistance for confined field trials to evaluate the performance of EHECs that will facilitate the commercial development and deployment of biofuels. Confined field trials may range in size and could include development scale (up to 5 acres), pilot scale (up to 250 acres), or demonstration scale (up to 15,000 acres). The field trials would demonstrate the EHEC's biological and economic viability and further DOE ARPA-E's mission. 1 Vertical change bars in the margins of this Final PEIS indicate revisions or new information added since the Draft PEIS was issued in January 2015. Editorial changes are not marked. Engineered High Energy Crop Programs Final PEIS THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK Engineered High Energy Crop Programs Final PEIS Summary S-1 Introduction The Department of Energy (DOE) Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) is considering a proposed action (Proposed Action) to implement one or more programs to catalyze the development and demonstration of engineered high energy crops (EHECs) through confined field trials in the Southeastern United States. DOE has elected to prepare a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) to provide a broad view of the potential environmental impacts and issues to be considered in future proposals to implement EHEC programs. Thus, this Final PEIS addresses environmental impacts and issues at a broad, program level, identifies a geographical area within which future proposed field trials may occur, and identifies best management practices (BMPs) that can be considered in future, tiered NEPA reviews for possible implementation during field trials. The geographic scope for this PEIS is limited to existing croplands, pasturelands, and forested areas in the states of Alabama, Florida (excluding the Everglades/Southern Florida coastal plain ecoregion), Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. DOE has prepared this Final PEIS in compliance with the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) regulations for implementing NEPA (40 Code of Federal Regulations [CFR] Parts 1500–1508) and DOE's NEPA regulations (10 CFR Part 1021), and other applicable regulations (Appendix A). The preparation of a PEIS includes formal opportunities for public input during the scoping period and the Draft PEIS comment period. On June 21, 2013, DOE issued in the Federal Register (FR) a Notice of Intent (NOI) to prepare a PEIS for the Proposed Action (78 FR 37593) and to conduct public scoping with in-person and web-based meetings. DOE published the Draft PEIS Notice of Availability in the Federal Register on January 16, 2015. That initiated a 60-day public review and Draft PEIS comment period (80 FR 2404). The Draft PEIS comment period closed on March 17, 2015; DOE reviewed all of the comments received on the Draft PEIS. Appendix B includes copies of the comments and DOE comment responses identifying corresponding revisions in the Final PEIS, as appropriate. Section S-1.3, Public Participation and Agency Coordination, provides a summary of the public and agency coordination conducted for this PEIS. Additional details on this topic can be found in Section 1.6. This Final PEIS provides information for Federal, state, and local, agencies; non-government organizations; research institutions; and the general public on the potential environmental impacts of the proposed DOE EHEC Programs. For this Final PEIS, the focus is on the development of biofuels resulting from future EHEC Programs funded by DOE or other Federal agencies. This environmental information could be used by decision-makers, researchers, and other Federal agencies in identifying potential concerns for consideration in future site-specific environmental reviews. Such site-specific environmental reviews may tier off of this Final PEIS, as appropriate, in accordance with 40 CFR 1508.28. This Final PEIS could be used by the public to better understand the potential impacts associated with the various EHEC technologies and activities. S-1.1 Background Renewable energy sources comprise a variety of technology classes to supply thermal energy, electricity, and mechanical energy, as well as to produce fuels for assorted energy service needs. Biomass, the biological matter derived from living or recently living organisms such as plants, is a type of renewable energy source that can be converted into liquid fuels (commonly known as biofuels) or combusted directly for its energy content to generate electricity or heat. The two most common types of biofuels are ethanol and biodiesel. In the United States, S-i Engineered High Energy Crop Programs Final PEIS ethanol, an alcohol made primarily from corn starch, is most commonly used as an additive for petroleum-based fuels to reduce toxic air emissions and increase octane (U.S. Department of Agriculture -- Economic Research Service, 2012). In 2009, the transportation sector used about 0.6 quadrillion Btu of biofuels (Oak Ridge National Laboratory, 2009). S-1.1.1 Energy Crops Energy crops are crops grown specifically for their biomass or fuel value. Biomass includes cellulose (a carbohydrate that is the principal component of wood and linked to lignin molecules that strengthen plant cell walls) as its main combustible component; biomass can be converted into biofuels (such as ethanol or biodiesel) or combusted directly for its energy content to generate electricity or heat. Non-food energy crops usually produce more usable energy than food energy crops that have higher nutritional value. Both non-food and food crops have the potential as energy crops to become EHECs. There are three broad classes of energy crops—perennial herbaceous, annual herbaceous, and woody crops. Perennial herbaceous plants are plants that re-grow from their root-stock; these plants grow and bloom over the spring and summer, die in the autumn/winter, and return in the spring (from their root-stock). Annual herbaceous plants die at the end of their growing season and must be replanted each year. Woody crops are plants, such as trees or shrubs, that produce wood as their structural tissue; short-rotation woody crops are fast-growing species, such as Populus and Eucalyptus, that can be harvested year-round and continue growing year after year. Table S- 1 identifies some examples of energy crops that have the potential to be EHECs (recognizing there are other possible species); this list does not represent the entire range of possible EHECs. Table S-1: Examples of Plants with the Potential to Be EHECs Perennial Herbaceous Annual Herbaceous Woody Crops Agave Camelina Eucalyptus Giant Cane Energy Beet Pine Basin Wildrye Maize Poplar Bull Rush Sorghum Spruce Energy Cane Tobacco Willow Guayule Jatropha Miscane Miscanthus Napiergrass Reed Canarygrass Sainfoin Salicornia Sugarcane Switchgrass S-ii Engineered High Energy Crop Programs Final PEIS Both non-food and food crops can be engineered to become
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