The United States is putting big money into wind energy development, and Virginia stands to benefit greatly from this fast-track appropriation toward energy independence.

The Department of Energy and the Department of the Interior announced this week the funding of $50 million for projects supporting wind energy development off the Atlantic Coast, including an area off Virginia’s Capes. "Rapid" is the operative word, as the U.S. tries to spur projects and get them on a fast track.

Costly, to be sure. The construction of any infrastructure is always expensive, although the benefits are calculated to outweigh by far the costs. Think railroads… interstate highways ... power grids. The government has had a hand in building all of these over the centuries. It is stepping up now to meet the new challenges.

If the price of developing this new infrastructure can help make us independent of other nations for our energy supply, the cost will be justified many times...