Electrify Africa Act of 2014

Floor Speech

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Mrs. LUMMIS. Mr. Speaker, today the U.S. House of Representatives considered legislation important to improving the quality-of-life and opportunities for the millions of people living in sub-Saharan Africa. H.R. 2548, the Electrify Africa Act, would require the United States to develop a comprehensive strategy to improve access to electricity for the nearly 600 million people currently living without it in those countries.

Almost 70 percent of the population in sub-Saharan Africa lives in energy poverty, without access to even basic electricity services. The connection between energy poverty and economic poverty cannot be ignored. For those of us in the United States with access to reliable electricity, it is difficult to truly comprehend what life would be like without the services electricity provides: the ability to simply flip a light switch to have light at any hour of the day, or charge your cell phone; refrigeration of foods, medicines, and life-saving vaccines; indoor cooking; use of the Internet; advanced health care technology; clean water and sanitation services. The list goes on and on.

But consider how different our lives would be if we did not have access to affordable and reliable electricity--what it would be like if we had to travel miles each day to gather fuel sources to cook our food; had to rely only on daylight to accomplish tasks; had no access to clean water and other sanitation services; and no access to life-saving medical technology readily available in other parts of the world but that require electricity to work. That is the reality for the hundreds of millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa. They struggle each day to provide for their basic needs. Affordable and reliable access to electricity would transform these regions, providing opportunities for economic growth and a better quality-of-life.

What I consider especially important about H.R. 2548 is that this bill recognizes that a ``one-size-fits-all'' energy strategy will not benefit these countries and their populations. This legislation calls for an appropriate mix of energy options, non-renewable and renewable, to address the energy poverty endemic to these regions. In its report, the House Foreign Affairs Committee notes that coal, natural gas, and oil are all available potential energy sources to generate electricity in sub-Saharan Africa, as well as solar, hydropower, and geothermal.

An all-inclusive energy mix is vital to addressing energy accessibility and reliability in impoverished parts of the world. Regions and countries should responsibly generate power using the energy resources that are most readily available to them and that provide the most affordable and reliable option. If the energy source to generate the electricity is available but so expensive that people cannot afford to use it, then what good does it do? Similarly, an electricity supply too dependent on intermittent sources does not benefit a health care provider trying to perform a procedure using medical equipment reliant on a consistent source of electricity or administer vaccines that must be kept refrigerated.

The current Administration has unfortunately sought to dictate what sources of energy can be used in developing nations, promoting some and discriminating against others, namely cheap and abundant coal-fired power. This only does a disservice to the people who need the services and opportunities that electricity provides. H.R. 2548 reminds us of the consequences of not having access to affordable and reliable electricity, something I think many of us take for granted. It further reminds us about the importance of an all-of-the-above energy mix to our country's access to cheap and reliable electricity, economic stability, and quality-of-life. I am pleased that the Electrify Africa Act recognizes these realities, establishing a framework for countries in Sub-Saharan Africa to pursue the energy development that makes the most sense for them.

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