Powerful New Video: Protect the Moapa Band of Paiutes from Coal
The Moapa Band of Paiutes continues to fight the pollution from the nearby Reid Gardner coal plant in Southern Nevada, and the Sierra Club stands with them. Today, we are releasing this powerful new video that features members of the tribe telling moving personal stories about the devastating effects of pollution from Reid Gardner.
I first wrote about the Moapa in late April when we supported the Moapa Band of Paiutes on their three-day, 50-mile cultural healing walk from their reservation to the Lloyd George Federal Building in Las Vegas. The walk brought visibility to the damage that the Reid Gardner coal-fired power plant is doing to the tribe's health, culture and economy.
Following that march, on May 3, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) held a hearing on the Moapa reservation about the pollution permits for Reid Gardner. That's when much of the footage was taken for this short, unforgettable video.
The hearing was packed with tribal members telling their stories of serious health problems: asthma, other lung diseases, nosebleeds, severe allergies, heart disease, and more. Members also talked about being unable to live their lives according to their culture: the toxic dust stirred by the wind keeps people indoors; they are afraid to gather herbs and use them because they know they are contaminated with coal ash; and they universally are concerned about the long-term survival of the tribe.
This is an issue of fairness and justice. This Tribe deserves clean air and water, not an outdated coal plant saddled with second-rate pollution controls.
The Moapa are leading the way beyond dirty coal and to clean energy by developing a major solar plant on the reservation.
Now EPA needs to do its part by requiring first-rate technology to reduce air pollution at the Reid Gardner coal plant. You can help - take action today to tell EPA to protect the Moapa from dirty coal pollution.
-- Mary Anne Hitt, Director of the Beyond Coal Campaign