Washington, DC – In an effort to expand and diversify American energy resources, improve our environment, reduce our dependence on foreign oil and create thousands of new, clean energy jobs, U.S. Senator Susan Collins is urging Senate Appropriators to allocate federal funding to support the development of deepwater offshore wind technology. The University of Maine and the State of Maine have developed a 10-year plan for the design, testing, and deployment of floating deepwater wind turbine platforms.

Senator Collins wrote to Chairman Byron Dorgan and Ranking Member Robert Bennett of the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee requesting that they allocate a minimum of $20 million in funding in the fiscal year 2011 Energy and Water Appropriations bill, specifically for the development and testing of deepwater offshore wind technologies.