I want to thank my Congressman, Gregg Harper, for his support and assistance to all the over 150,000 small public water systems across the country for sponsoring the Grass Roots Rural and Small Community Water Systems Assistance Act.

And I appreciate you holding this hearing on the needs of drinking water systems in rural and smaller communities.

As someone who proudly represents communities in small town and rural America, I am glad we have bipartisan interest in tackling this subject.

People who live in rural communities deserve every bit of water quality and technical resources that folks who live in densely populated urban centers do.

the rule will almost certainly cause the premature closure of existing coal plants in Mississippi

the minimum incremental capital cost to Mississippi to comply with the proposed rule will be $14.2 billion

I think with the first stage of this rule that most companies are going to be OK. They can probably get there, but the second stage, which I believe is scheduled to be implemented in 2020, that is going to be extremely costly.

I think Mississippi would be a great place for a future field hearing, Mr. Chairman, because we have the Kemper County facility that soon will be up and running.

I value your shared interest in telehealth.

I appreciate your attention to this important subject.

I have had the privilege of being a part of this exciting conversation on telemedicine.