Native Grasses for Biomass Production at High Elevations - Industrial Crops: Breeding for BioEnergy and Bioproducts - page 123

[ 124 - 126 ], although there are concerns about fugitive methane emissions, in part
due to shale disturbance. Despite technological advances and improvements in
environmental assessment and accountability for hydraulic fracturing, there is
much to be learned about the non-conventional natural gas development process
and accompanying environmental impacts. As recent, controversial, community
meetings have shown decisions as to whether or not to proceed with natural gas
development should be made on a community-specific basis with an attempt to
include multiple stakeholders. Agriculturally based communities could make an
informed decision about the mix of locally based energy production that best suits
their community values, and this mix will likely address locally produced

natural gas.
Another plausible scenario is that biomass could be coproduced on lands that
primarily serve to meet soil protection and wildlife conservation goals [ 127 ]. Her-
baceous perennial grasses provide benefits for land cover that improves soil and
water protection, nutrient management, and wildlife habitat. The marginal lands
that qualify for agricultural policies like the Conservation Reserve Program could
serve dual policy goals of providing wildlife habitat and biomass production to
establish a supply chain to sustain a regional economy. Considerable agronomic
and economic work is necessary to make this economically desirable proposition
for biomass supply chain in the Mountain West a sustainable reality.

Opportunities

For biomass production in the Mountain West, a goal of 6.7 dry ton ha 1 and a
biofuel yield of 330 L ton 1 of biomass would produce 2,211 L ha 1 of biofuel.
Compared to much of the rest of the country, the Mountain West has a large acreage
of idle cropland, has a majority of the land in grassland pasture and range, and has
one of the highest rates of crop failure. Using sustainable cropping practices for
biomass production, well-adapted, dedicated perennial biomass crops would reduce
the incidence of crop failure [ 128 ]. If 4 million hectares of the 142 million hectares
of cropland, grassland, pasture, and range could be used for biomass, this land has
the potential to produce 9.1 billion liters of biofuel annually, thus creating a
significant economic opportunity. Production of this quantity of biobutanol in the
Mountain West would make a significant contribution towards meeting the US
Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. The realization of these targets in
the Mountain West will not happen in the short term. Certainly, such a successful
enterprise in the Mountain West would create new business and thousands of
new jobs.
Biofuel crops may require a small amount of supplemental irrigation to ensure
their economic viability [ 129 ]. Nevertheless, some dedicated herbaceous energy
crop species, such as native and naturalized grasses, may have higher water-use
efficiencies and be more heat and drought tolerant than annual row crops. Further-
more, in some cases, the use of municipal, industrial, or gray water may be