Opinion: Research Into Energy Part of New Future

The News & Advance - Lynchburg, VA
Published: December 2, 2008

When tobacco companies, prodded by the courts and politicians, agreed a decade ago to put up millions of dollars to boost communities affected by the diminished sales of the former No. 1 agricultural cash crop, few saw energy research as tobacco’s replacement.

Yet, that is exactly what is happening — to the benefit not only of Lynchburg and communities in Southside and Southwest Virginia, but also potentially benefitting the entire country.
It’s an ambitious step that is just beginning to take shape.

As Media General News Service reported last week, the $32 million handed out this past summer by the Virginia Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission will be used by four communities to build energy research centers.

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