FEMA Denies Texas Request for Full Disaster Aid, Rankling Stricken Town [View all]

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WEST, Tex. — When the federal government declined to give Texas officials all the disaster aid they sought after a deadly fertilizer plant explosion here in April, it not only outraged local leaders struggling to rebuild but also raised another, politically thornier issue.

Why ask Washington for federal dollars for aid when Texas has plenty of its own dollars?

In a request sent last month to President Obama, Gov. Rick Perry wrote that the magnitude and severity of the disaster exceeded state and local resources. Because the president had already authorized the federal government to cover 75 percent of the state’s costs for debris removal and emergency response, the governor’s request amounted to a relatively small amount — roughly $17 million in uninsured and underinsured damages to public buildings, equipment and utilities.

Federal officials have so far paid or agreed to pay an estimated $25 million to the state and to affected families after the explosion — about $17 million for emergency work and nearly $8 million in grants and low-interest disaster loans for individuals. But the Federal Emergency Management Agency determined that under the federal disaster law, called the Stafford Act, the $17 million in uninsured public infrastructure damages were within the capabilities of the state and local governments. The state’s request to the president was denied because Texas failed to provide evidence that it “lacked the fiscal resources to address the remaining $17 million,” a FEMA spokesman said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/23/us/fema-denies-texas-request-for-full-disaster-aid-rankling-stricken-town.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0