Topic: Tennessee Legislature
By Beverly Fisher | March 31, 2008 | 
State Senator Rosalind Kurita, State Senator Doug Jackson, five other senators and four representatives have introduced legislation to protect land and waterways from the damage caused by surface coal mining. This environmental bill will be coming up for a vote On April 2.
HB 3348/SB 3822 would prohibit the Commissioner of the Department of Environment and Conservation from issuing or renewing a permit, certification or variance for:
- Surface coal operations, or resulting waste, fill or in stream treatment within 100 feet of any water of the state. However, the commissioner could issue or renew a permit, certification, or variance for operations to improve the quality of streams previously disturbed by mining
- Surface coal mining operations to alter or disturb any ridge line above 2,000 feet elevation above sea level. Joe Schiller, Associate Professor of Biology at Austin Peay State University, has reviewed the bill and states, “This bill certainly deserves strong support and I intend to contact Senator Kurita immediately to thank her for co-sponsoring it and encourage her to try to get it passed.”
During a contentious hearing before the Senate Environment, Conservation and Tourism committee on March 26, a National Coal Corporation executive and environmentalists clashed over the bill. «Read the rest of this article»
Sections: Issues, News | 3 Comments
By Christine Anne Piesyk | January 14, 2008 |
 State Senator Rosalind Kurita, Speaker Pro Tempore of the Tennessee Senate, is looking for change in how Tennessee finds its Lieutenant Governor and Secretary of State.
“It is time to change history and open up statewide elected positions in Tennessee — as in almost every other state in these United States of America. As we begin 2008, we need to create a position for a popularly elected Lieutenant Governor in Tennessee. We also need to popularly elect the Secretary of State.”
Kurita, in making this bid for new elected positions rather than the tradition of appointees to those key posts, said most Tennesseans “do not even realize that we do not have any voice in the selection of powerful statewide offices.”
“During this past legislative session, I passed the first leg of this complicated process in the Senate. Now we must pass it in the House.”
Kurita is now seeking support for this measure from the public, the voters into whose hands she would place the decisions on these important posts. “Your help is crucial to moving us forward in making “the election” process more open,” Kurita said. «Read the rest of this article»
Sections: Politics | 1 Comment »
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