The Gold King Mine wastewater spill near silverton, colorado. The attorney general hoped to be here this morning, but unfortunately he couldnt attend and i would like to thank him for giving us the opportunity to hold this important hearing. Hearing from our first witness, the honorable scott tipton from colorados third district, i want to stress that the epa was invited to attend but was unable to send a representative. Instead they sent testimony, and we have their testimony before us, and i ask for consent it be entered into the record. With consent, it will be entered into the record. I also want to welcome to the committee senator bennett who will be joining us not as a member of the committee but as a member of the senate who will also be able to participate in this Committee Hearing, and hell be here shortly. So in the sinterest of time, i will withhold my comments until after officer tipton has given his statement. The area includes silverton, colorado but also north of silvert
Within our own 14 states, the cigna brand, the cigna products, may come into our blue cross portfolio within those 14 states. However, in the National Account space it will still continue to compete as cigna, so its a combination of kind of placements in the country that are based on our blue states and our nonblue states where cigna will, in fact, compete. With respect to the best efforts rule that you brought up, we do need to comply with that rule, and we do not need to respond to the rule in terms of how we will comply until after the transaction closes. And then well have two years thereafter to adjust our portfolio, but we do not believe that will be an impediment to the deal nor do we believe that will present any competitive deterioration in the marketplace. Whereas today cigna has every incentive its incentivized naturally to compete as much as possible and fight for as much market share as possible, but boe wont the best efforts rule necessarily limit and cap cignas future co
To order for this mornings hearing which will examine the significant cost and burdens for Small Businesses resulting from the Gold King Mine wastewater spill near silverton, colorado. The attorney general hoped to be here this morning, but unfortunately he couldnt attend and i would like to thank him for giving us the opportunity to hold this important hearing. Hearing from our first witness, the honorable scott tipton from colorados third district, i want to stress that the epa was invited to attend but was unable to send a representative. Instead they sent testimony, and we have their testimony before us, and i ask for consent it be entered into the record. With consent, it will be entered into the record. I also want to welcome to the committee senator bennett who will be joining us not as a member of the committee but as a member of the senate who will also be able to participate in this Committee Hearing, and hell be here shortly. So in the sinterest of time, i will withhold my c
But was unable to send a ct, representative. Epa instead they submitted testimony and we have their testimony before us. Instead i ask it be entered into the record. And i also want to welcome to o. The committee senator bennett nd who will be here momentarily ano will be joining us not as a who member of the committee but as t member of the senate who will also be able to participate in this Committee Hearing. He will be here shortly. Mittee h in the interest of time, i wille withhold my Opening Statement the congressmans district tip includes silverton and north tet where the spill occurred. Mr. Tipton was elected to represent this area in november 2010. Orado wh congressman, your perspective i. Invaluable. We appreciate your service and look forward to your statement. Welcome, congressman tipton. He thank you, senator gardner. Extend my thanks to chairman vitter for convening todays my issues. When it comes to the impacts sse were going to be feeling in Southwestern Colorado but in
Understanding of their hometown economies and hear firsthand from their customers about why they visit the area. So planning governments judgment with their ontheground knowledge stands to hurt the economic harm already done to this area. We should see solutions to address these problems in the hands of the folks on the ground who have been working to solve these problems for years. The Good Samaritan approach i have been broaching, please be able to see both our senators from the state of colorado here who join with us in that concept of being able to address the problem and make sure were achieving a positive result, and i appreciate that support as one of the possible solutions as opposed to superfund designation. The animas river is a significant source of revenue in Southwestern Colorado and beyond, especially in the tourism season. This avoidable spill will have a significant impact, a longterm impact, and were working with state, local and federal officials to gather information