Can eucalyptus run a car? Trial seeks to find out

MOBILE, Ala. — Genetically modified eucalyptus trees are growing in the sandy soil of Baldwin County, part of an experiment that aims to turn an Australian export best known as koala bear food into fuel for American motorists.

Altered in laboratories in New Zealand to withstand American caterpillars and tolerate colder temperatures than are found in their native down-under habitat, the trees have been growing on a secret one-acre plot in Baldwin County for two years.

Officials with ArborGen, a South Carolina-based company, declined to reveal the exact location of the modified trees, citing "security reasons." Baldwin County is on the Gulf Coast between Mobile County and the Florida Panhandle.

Genetically engineered crops, such as the eucalyptus, are under fire from scientists and environmentalists, who fear that the plants can escape from farms and wreak havoc on native plant populations.

Federal officials have just published an environmental assessment of the ArborGen project, which is out for public comment until May 21. At the end of the comment period, the government will decide whether to permit further experiments with the eucalyptus in Baldwin County.

Eucalyptus, according to an ArborGen spokesman, is better than Midwestern corn for producing ethanol because, he said, the trees require a fraction of the energy to raise and harvest.

Congress spent the last week developing a major legislative package to promote ethanol, with the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee calling for the nation to produce 36 billion gallons of the biofuel per year by 2022.

Currently, corn drives ethanol production in the U.S., but corn is a labor-intensive crop that scientists say requires nearly as much energy to grow as it produces in the form of ethanol.

By contrast, eucalyptus trees would produce 8 gallons of ethanol for every gallon of gas or diesel used to farm and process them, according to ArborGen.

The company is now seeking a permit to allow the trees to mature, flower and produce seeds. All of that was specifically forbidden under the original permit, which granted ArborGen permission to simply grow the trees and test them for cold tolerance.

In California, eucalyptus has long been recognized as a noxious invasive species, displacing native habitats, disrupting water supplies and playing a significant role in worsening wildfires. Eucalyptus contains large quantities of a highly flammable oil.

"This is a tree you can grow in plantation settings. It can be farmed as an energy crop. It provides a new crop for the South, where the logging infrastructure is already in place from pine production," said Glenn Ray, with ArborGen. "We've done studies that show with [eucalyptus], the South could be self-sustaining for ethanol production.

"The president is talking about replacing 30 percent of the gasoline with ethanol. The Midwestern states have corn and wheat. Down here, we don't grow those, but the Southeast can help with these trees."