Statement From Senator Ken Yager Regarding The Governor's Proposals To Be Unvelied In A Special Address To The Extraordinary Session
January 12, 2010

“I am very encouraged by the proposals put in front of us thus far,” said Senator Ken Yager, a member of the Senate Education Committee which is studying the proposal.  “I am particularly pleased with Governor Bredesen’s farsighted proposal to authorize he University of Tennessee to collaborate with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, a plan which will bring many jobs and economic possibilities to this region. There is no better place to nurture this collaboration than the Laboratory, the premier federal laboratory focusing on energy research. This collaboration, coupled with the work in solar energy and biofuels, will brand the University as a national research university, strengthening the degrees of all its graduates.”

Senator Yager represents six East Tennessee Counties, including Roane County in Senate District 12 in which the National Laboratory is housed.