NV Energy has agreed to pay $4.3 million to the Moapa Band of Paiute Indians following allegations that its coal-fired power plant has contaminated the local water and endangered the health of nearby residents..

The proposed settlement, which is scheduled to become final on September 8, concludes a federal lawsuit that was filed in August 2013 by the Band. The Sierra Club is also a plaintiff in the case.

In their suit, the Moapa claim that the Reid Gardner Generating Station, a coal-fired power plant owned by NV Energy and located outside Las Vegas, has contributed to respiratory ailments among the locals and polluted the water in and around Muddy River, a tributary to the Colorado that contributes to the drinking water supply of 2 million Vegas residents and hundreds of thousands of tourists every year.

Emissions and ash dust from coal-fired plants has been found to contain high levels of mercury, arsenic, chromium, lead and other toxic chemicals. In China, where coal plants are significantly more numerous (coal energy makes up 70 percent of its industrial development), particulate pollution was linked to the deaths of 670,000 individuals in 2012. Inhalation of smog particulates 2.5 micrometers in diameter or smaller can lead to strokes, lung cancer, coronary heart disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Lung cancer rates in Beijing have risen 50 percent in less than ten years.

According to the AP, health officials have not directly linked respiratory illness among the Moapa to the coal plant, which is now slated for closure. Neither the plant nor NV Energy has acknowledged any liability or wrongdoing in the proposed settlement filed on Tuesday in the US District Court in Las Vegas.

That has not stopped US Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) from lauding the plant’s closure and condemning its alleged effects on the local population.

“For years the band has suffered the consequences of breathing dangerous dirty air from the Reid Gardner coal plant,” the Senator said. “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.”

According to Robert Wiygul, the attorney representing both the Moapa and the Sierra Club, $1.5 million of the settlement will fund a community health wellness center on the Moapa reservation. Another $2.7 million will aid the Moapa in buying water rights, monitoring air quality and hiring advisors to supervise the cleanup, according to Sierra Club official Barbara Boyle.