[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 143 (Thursday, October 1, 2015)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1405]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           HONORING HAITI RURAL ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE LINEMEN

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. BILLY LONG

                              of missouri

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 1, 2015

  Mr. LONG. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of 7 volunteer electric 
linemen from White River Valley in Branson, Missouri, who traveled to 
Haiti this June and August to help provide sustainable seven-day-a-week 
electric service to Haitians.
   Cory Brandon Sanders, Raymond Roy, William Gyger, William Marr, 
Matthew Maggard, Mark Visnosky, and Jacob Kennedy donated their time 
and talents as part of the National Rural Electric Cooperative 
Association's (NRECA) Haiti Rural Electric Cooperative (HREC) program.
   This project is the first formal privately owned and operated 
distribution utility in the country, which intends to demonstrate the 
feasibility of solar-diesel hybrid power generation for isolated rural 
mini-grids. The goal that these men worked toward making 1,600 
connections within a grid to unite the underserved Haitian communes of 
Roche-a-Bateau, Coteaux, and Port-a-Piment.
   Mr. Speaker, these 7 selfless linemen from Southwest Missouri 
deserve our thanks and recognition for their dedication to the HREC's 
noble goal of bringing affordable and reliable power to the southern 
coast of Haiti. Stories like theirs make me ever-prouder to serve 
Missouri's Seventh Congressional District.

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