LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska lawmakers are moving forward with a new effort to try to fix problems in a tiny village that sells millions of cans each year next to a South Dakota Indian reservation.

Senators gave first-round approval Thursday to a bill that would create a legislative task force to examine the public health problems in Whiteclay, a town blamed for fueling alcoholism on the neighboring Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

Whiteclay’s four beer stores sold the equivalent of 3.5 million cans of beer in 2015, despite having only about a dozen residents.

Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks of Lincoln says she introduced the bill because the problem has festered for too long. Pansing Brooks worked with Sen. Tom Brewer of Gordon, a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe whose district includes Whiteclay.