You're thinking of Moapa Travel Plaza and, yes, it's tribal and has a casino. The plaza has twice as many slot machines (100) as parking spaces but its main selling point is its firework franchise. According to the offiicial Web site, it has a large array of fireworks, many "not sold anywhere else in Nevada." (The benefits of being a sovereign nation, we suppose.) If you buy $500 worth of pyrotechnics, you're promised a free rocket launcher.
The Moapa Paiutes, like so many other Native American tribes, thrived peacefully until the 19th century. The opening of the Old Spanish Trail was, according to official tribal history, catastrophic. Mormon settlers clashed with the tribe, as did other newcomers to the area. Water – such a valuable resource in Nevada – was appropriated and tribal members were even pressed into slavery. When the Paiutes struck back, they were put down by the U.S. Cavalry. The tribe was also exposed to previously unknown diseases such as measles and tuberculosis.
As were so many tribes, the Moapa Paiutes were forced onto a reservation. Although it was originally 39,000 acres, the U.S. government gradually whittled that down to 1,000 acres. The tribe attempted to farm the dairy land but eventually gave up and leased some of it to a dairy company. That arrangement continued until 1968 when the Indian Claims Commission entered a judgment in favor of the Paiutes, resulting in the establishment of a fund for economic development.
In recent years, the Paiutes' main bone of contention has been the coal-fired Reid Gardner Power Generation Station, whose emissions sent coal ash – replete with lead, manganese and mercury -- blowing across their reservation. "You can't get out. You're essentially imprisoned in your own home," said one tribal member. Others complained of asthma, chronic headaches and hyperthyroidism. The cruel irony was that tribal members also worked at Reid Gardner.
Although Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval signed a law in June 2013 that would phase out Reid Gardner (owned by Warren Buffett's MidAmerican Energy Holdings) by next year, the legislation did not provide for cleanup of the site. So the Paiutes, along with the Sierra Club, filed a lawsuit alleging violations of the Clean Water Act and the Resource Conservation & Recovery Act. Among the complaints in the suit was the charge that Reid Gardner was dumping coal ash into the Muddy River, which wends its way to Lake Mead.
In 2015, NV Energy and the California Department of Water Resources, which were handling the gradual shutdown of Reid Gardner, agreed to settle with the Paiutes for $4.3 million in return for no admission of culpability. The tribe allocated $1.5 million of the settlement money to a wellness center. The balance of the money was earmarked for purchasing water rights and retaining technicians to help oversee cleanup of Reid Gardner once it went completely dark. By the time the two sides had come to agreement, three of Reid Gardner's four boilers had been taken offline.
"This settlement recognizes the harmful impact the Moapa Band of Paiute Indians have endured, and closing the Reid-Gardner plant was the right thing to do," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (who is not the namesake of the power plant) in an official statement. He added, "While the settlement will provide relief and help make the tribe’s home healthier and safer, no amount of money can pay for the sickness caused by a half-century of pollution from the coal plant. The Moapa Band of Paiutes and all Nevadans deserve a clean, healthy environment to raise their families in and pass on to their children."
