Biofuel Plants: Aggressive Weeds or Panacea?

By Timothy Gardner

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New plants the biofuels industry has touted as potential sources of green domestic fuels pose risks as aggressive weeds that could damage farms and other ecosystems.

Botanists like Richard Mack at Washington State University said the new crops must be considered to help ease tightening oil supplies, but that they should be studied carefully before the nascent industry develops the new energy source.

Some could "jump the fence" and encroach on food crops or suffocate irrigation ditches and water systems in the U.S. West, where water supplies are tight, he said.

Plants like miscanthus, switchgrass and giant reed grow rapidly in dense formations and have few pests and diseases -- traits companies say would make them ideal for biofuels.

Reutters.com, Nov. 9, 2007