LYMAN — The BVEA annual meeting and the Bridger Valley Health Fair played to a big crowd last Saturday at the Lyman High School.

The day was kicked off with a breakfast hosted by BVEA, with the commons area brimming with health entities displaying their programs and wares.

For the two board member seats up for election, both incumbents were re-elected. They included Gary Nix in District 1 and Clark Anderson in District 4.

Senator John Barrasso was on hand to visit with people prior to the BVEA meeting and also spoke at the meeting, bringing local residents up-to-date on some of the things happening in Washington. And, true to form, Barrasso, a true-to-heart Wyomingite, said he responds to residents with, “It is always better in Wyoming.”

During the BVEA meeting, Barrasso talked about the need for “safe, reliable, affordable electricity for America.” This idea was repeated several times and seemed to be the by-words of the day as they were also repeated by the BVEA board members, Shawn Taylor who is executive director of WREN magazine, and David Grabtree, CEO of Deseret Wholesale Power.

In addition, Barrasso said, “Washington doesn’t care about the people. They want to save the world and turn it over to China and Russia.” He also explained electric vehicles might work for the rich people, but what about the people in Wyoming, noting they had miles to go and not as much money as the rich people back east. He emphasized Wyoming people tell Washington to “leave us alone.”

Barrasso asked where the power would come from when the most reliable sources are eliminated.

When asked about the Colorado River Pact, Barrasso said this pact was developed 100 years ago, and there was no foresight as to the growth that would develop across the nation as the developers “never once thought that there would be 40 million users” relying on the water.

Barrasso said part of the problems in the United States is a result the national media is a “liberal media,” and provides that slant to the news.

It was reported BVEA is on solid footing and has 177 miles of power lines coupled with 1,001 miles of distribution lines. Credit for the solid operation goes to the board of directors, according to Andy Hewitt, BVEA director. In addition, BVEA has over 1,000 Internet customers. Hewitt noted the Operation RoundUp program had provided $315,000 to assist community programs and local residents since its inception in 2008.

A major problem facing the coop, according to Hewitt, is much of the infrastructure is aging and needs to be upgraded. The coop has been working on this for some time.

Hewitt noted, there were only four coops in Wyoming which have a lower cost of a KW hour that BVEA, and this also includes the total bring the total coops to 17 by a few which their service crosses into the Wyoming.