LAS VEGAS -- Senate Majority Leader Senator Harry Reid is calling for the closure of the Reid-Gardner generating station which is fueled by coal.
The plant is located near Moapa, Nevada which is about 50 miles north of Las Vegas.
"The soot – and the dangerous chemicals inside it – is literally killing the Paiutes," Reid said to an audience at the National Clean Energy Summit in Las Vegas. He referred to the plant as a "dirty relic."
About 300 Moapa Paiute Indians live near the plant and have complained of health problems.
"Every year we spend hundreds of millions of dollars buying coal from other states to burn in Nevada. It's time to make a different choice – a choice that brings new clean energy industries and jobs to Nevada," Reid said.
On Tuesday, the American Indians protested outside the Clean Energy Summit at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas.
"My neighbors, Calvin Miers and Russell Sampson, they lived right next door (to the coal plant)," said tribe member Vernon Lee. "They both went into the hospital about one month ago. They were bad, needless to say. We actually buried Russell Sampson on Sunday."
In a series of statements, NV Energy defended the coal plant as passing all standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency in an effort provide affordable power to customers.
NV Energy stated it is already ahead of the game when it comes to green energy. More than 15 percent of Las Vegas' power comes from renewable sources, the company stated.
NV Energy plans to retire the coal plant in 2023 -- not fast enough for protestors.
Vickie Simmons with the Moapa Indian Band said she has discovered a majority of children living near the coal plant now have breathing problems.
"Eleven of 16 have asthma," she said. "That's an alarming rate. ... Your profits are coming at a price, a price to my tribe."
Protesters of coal energy plants gather outside the Clean Energy Summit at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas.
