This is great news for a tribe suffering from poverty and coal plant pollution. The Moapa Paiutes are moving rapidly towards having grid scale solar power plants on their land and replacing a nearby coal plant with one fueled by natural gas. The first project will be a 250 MW solar farm. The tribe will have majority ownership. More projects are planned.
Their primary business until now has been a travel plaza on I-15 north of Las Vegas that sells a humunguous assortment of fireworks not easily available elsewhere and has slot machines. I’ve stopped there numerous times and it just seems like times are hard for them. Renewable energy on their land will provide badly needed income and converting the coal plant will improve their health.
The Moapa Band of Paiute Indians have formed a joint venture with Terrible Herbst Inc. and Stronghold Engineering Inc. to build as much as 1.5 gigawatts of renewable energy projects on its land in Nevada.
Their web site features this video, AN ILL WIND, the secret threat of coal ash.
Coal is the dirtiest energy source – laced with mercury, arsenic, lead and other toxics. As it’s burned it creates significant problems for our health. These contaminants billow out of smokestacks right next to Moapa Paiute tribal lands. Toxic dust called coal ash picks up from the landfills and slag ponds of the coal-fired Reid Gardner Power Station and heads toward the reservation like a sandstorm. Watch this video to find out about this threat to the Moapa Paiutes.