Ground-Breaking Solar Agreement Between LA and Nevada Tribe

[jpak]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mary-anne-hitt/ground-breaking-solar-agr_b_2252732.html

Today Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa signed an agreement to purchase enough solar energy from Nevada's Moapa Band of Paiutes to power 105,000 Los Angeles homes.

This ground-breaking agreement is great news for everyone involved. From the Moapa Band of Paiutes, who are building the solar farm on their land; to the residents of Los Angeles, who will reap the benefits of cleaner electricity; to all Americans demanding a transition to clean energy; we salute the effective grassroots organizing by local citizens and strong leadership from city officials that brought this project to fruition.

The agreement also enjoys support from the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, the Los Angeles Business Council, and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. The Sierra Club has worked with allied environmental and community groups over recent months and years to galvanize public support for this transition to clean energy, as part of our My Generation campaign, and we also have a close partnership with the Moapa.

If the Moapa Band of Paiutes sounds familiar to you, I've talked about them in my columns before. Replacing coal with renewable energy is a matter of life or death for them. The Nevada tribe is located near the filthy Reid Gardner coal-fired power plant, which pollutes their air and water. These families are suffering from high levels of asthma, heart conditions, and even cancer.

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