William Anderson
Moapa, Nevada

I'm the chairman for the Moapa Band of Paiutes. We've been utilizing this land and the river for farming for many generations. We've been here forever.

We have over 71,000 acres of land here, and we've set aside about 2,000 acres to build a solar energy plant. What we're trying to do is find a solution to help our people breathe clean air. We want to show that we're taking the effort to be more responsible with the land, to provide something that's clean and safe.

This is not just for us, but also for the people who live nearby. If the power plant were to shut down, the job loss would be negative on the whole area. That's why we're trying to come up with a solution that provides economic development, so we can hire more and more people from the surrounding community.

We want to create jobs, and we want to show our neighbors that there are ways to produce energy other than polluting the earth. (Interviewed July 19–20, 2012)

Photo by Ami Vitale/Panos Pictures