New Mexico is appealing a decision by the Federal Emergency Management Agency denying funding to keep future fires and floods from causing so much damage across the state.

The state sought hazard mitigation grant money following this summer’s flooding in Ruidoso, although the funds were to be available to local governments and tribal entities across the state for projects to minimize damage from the next disaster.

The federal agency determined the need for such funds was “not warranted,” an administrator wrote in a Sept. 26 letter to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham. No additional information was included in the denial letter to explain why the request was denied.

In a letter appealing the decision, Ali Rye, director of the state Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, desc

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