[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 99 (Tuesday, June 21, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Page S4407]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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         75TH ANNIVERSARY OF MOUNTAIN VIEW ELECTRIC ASSOCIATION

 Mr. GARDNER. Mr. President, today I wish to honor Mountain 
View Electric Association's 75th anniversary. On December 6, 1940, 
Mountain View Electric's 249 original members filed for incorporation 
of the cooperative. Since then, the company has provided power to 
Arapahoe, Crowley, Douglas, Elbert, El Paso, Lincoln, Pueblo, and 
Washington counties in Colorado. Its territory covers 5,000 square 
miles, powering homes, schools, churches, small businesses, and 
hospitals.
  For more than seven decades, Mountain View Electric has been an 
important source of electricity for many of Colorado's rural counties. 
In particular, the company has worked diligently to help the residents 
who lost their homes in the Black Forest Fire in 2013. In the wake of 
this devastation, Mountain View Electric worked to quickly restore 
service to the area, at no additional cost to the property owners.
  Rural electric cooperatives play an important role in communities 
around the United States, serving an estimated 42 million Americans. 
This business structure connects consumers directly to the operations 
of the company, keeping electricity prices affordable. Electric 
cooperatives also contribute to development and growth across the 
country's rural areas.
  I commend Mountain View Electric for its decades of service to rural 
Colorado. Congratulations again on this significant 
anniversary.

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