Sen. Susan Collins recently secured approval from the Senate Appropriations Committee for $10 million for deepwater offshore wind research, an appropriation that should be approved by the full Senate.

Wind energy should be part of our future. That ought to be clear as the U.S. works to clean up millions of gallons of crude oil that gushed from the offshore oil rig Deepwater Horizon for the last few months.

Besides reducing Americans dependence on oil, offshore wind farms would harness renewable energy that doesn’t have the same capacity for environmental damage as offshore drilling. Wind is a truly renewable source as well.

The levels of wind speed offshore have the capacity to generate large amounts of power. In an interview last fall, John Kerry, director of the Gov. John Baldacci’s Office of Energy Independence, said, “The long-term future for wind energy offshore has great potential. Once the technology is universally accepted and affordable, then you’ll start seeing tens of thousands of megawatts being generated offshore.”

The obstacle now is how to make the technology affordable.

Jake Ward of the University of Maine, who served on Maine’s Ocean Energy Task Force with Kerry, said wind turbine technology ”“ on a commercial scale ”“ is expensive. Ward, who is the assistant vice president of Research and Economic Development at the university, said last fall that commercial towers to be used offshore could range between $30 and $50 million.

That is why these federal funds are needed to pursue offshore wind energy prototypes and research. If the $10 million to support the University of Maine’s development of offshore wind turbines is approved, Maine will be one step closer to creating viable turbines for use offshore.

And if Maine is able to lead the way, the industry will surely follow.

According to a statement from Collins, “deepwater, offshore wind production, out-of-sight from land, could provide a source of clean, renewable energy directly to the country’s population centers on the coast while creating some 15,000 new jobs in our state.”

The environmental implications of Americans’ reliance on fossil fuels coupled with the knowledge that those resources will one day run out, should be all Congress needs to appropriate these ”“ and more ”“ funds for clean energy research and development.

If Deepwater Horizon had been a wind farm operating offshore, an explosion may have damaged some very expensive equipment and possibly injured some marine life, but there would be no need for miles of boom, no extensive clean up effort, and no interference in the way of life of those who live and rely on the Gulf Coast.

Investing in offshore wind energy may seem expensive now, but when Maine and the rest of the country is running on clean energy, people will see the benefits far and wide.

— Comments? Contact Managing Editor Nick Cowenhoven by calling 282-1535, Ext. 327, or via e-mail at nickc@journaltribune.com.