By VERNON ROBISON
Moapa Valley Progress
A bill introduced in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday, June 17, would add more than 26,000 acres of federal land to the Moapa River Indian Reservation.
The Moapa Band of Paiutes Conveyance Act, introduced by Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) would expand the 75,000 acre reservation significantly by putting into trust 26,582 acres currently under control of the Bureau of Land Management and the Bureau of Reclamation.
The bill was one of two presented by Reid last week to increase the size of tribal lands in the state of Nevada. The second bill would grant almost 93,000 acres to tribes in Humboldt, Elko and Washoe counties; and to the Pyramid Lake Paiutes with reservation land in Washoe, Storey and Lyon counties.
“Before the Silver State was settled by pioneers, prospectors and enterpreneurs, Nevada was home for generations to the Washoe, Western Shoshone and Paiute people,” Reid said in a written statement last week. “These first Nevadans have long been a voice for protecting our wild landscapes and enriching our state through their language and cultural heritage. Land is the lifeblood to Native Americans, and this bill provides space for housing, economic development, traditional uses and cultural protection,”
A companion bill to the Moapa bill was introduced the following day by Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Nev.) in the U.S. House of Representatives.
“This land transfer will provide the Moapa Paiutes opportunities to grow and improve their community,” Horsford said in a written statement. “The Moapa Paiutes’ reservation is surrounded by unused federal land, so this transfer is a common sense solution to allow their community to expand.”
The proposed expansion land is divided into four large segments located at various spots bordering the current reservation area. About 5,700 acres of new land is proposed for the northern end of the reservation near the tribal village area. Approximately 11,500 acres would be added to the reservation in a large strip just south of the Paiute Travel Plaza at exit 75 of Interstate 15. Nearly 2,000 acres would be added to the tribe’s western border just north of the Crystal Substation. Finally, around 7,600 acres would be added on the eastern side of the reservation which would include the Byron exit of I-15.
The language of the bill outlines that the tribe may employ the new trust land for any of three possible uses. These include traditional and customary uses, stewardship conservation for the benefit of the tribe, residential or recreational development, and renewable energy development. The expansion according to the bill.
The tribe has expressed that it is open to pursuing new renewable energy projects on the expansion lands.
In recent years, the tribe has been aggressive in seeking the development of solar power generation facilities on reservation land.
In March, the tribe broke ground on a 250-megawatt solar plant, touted as the first utility-scale solar project approved on tribal land. The City of Los Angeles has agreed to buy power from the 1,000 acre facility for 25 years under a contract worth approximately $1.6 billion.
In May, federal officials announced the approval of a proposal for a new 200-megawatt photo-voltaic solar array to be built in coordination with NV Energy as part of a replacement package for the Reid Gardner Plant in Moapa which is scheduled to begin decommissioning later this year.
Tribe members had long complained about Reid Gardner, blaming smoke and blowing dust from the plant for making them sick and polluting their air.
Senator Reid has publicly sided with the tribe in its fight against the coal-burning Moapa plant. He described the plant as a “dirty relic” and has called on NV Energy to close it.
In response, the utility announced last year that it would shut down three of the four Reid Gardner units by the end of this year and close the plant down completely by 2017.
Reid has had a strong relationship with Native American tribes in Nevada.
“I take the many obligations that the United States has to tribal nations seriously,” Reid said in his written statement.
The size of the Moapa River Indian Reservation has been a sore spot for tribal members for generations. In the 1870s when first established, the reservation spread across two and a half million acres. It included much of what today is Moapa, Logandale, Overton, Virgin Valley and the Gold Butte region. But shortly thereafter most of that land was stripped away from the tribe by Congress. In 1980, President Jimmy Carter restored 75,000 acres to the reservation.
