The student center at New Mexico Highlands University pictured in December 2022. The university is suing the Federal Emergency Management Agency over what it says are unnecessary hurdles to wildfire compensation. (Photo by Patrick Lohmann / Source NM)
A public university in Las Vegas, New Mexico is suing the Federal Emergency Management Agency, alleging the agency is illegally forcing it to jump through bureaucratic hoops before it can seek compensation for a wildfire in 2022 caused by the United States Forest Service.
New Mexico Highlands University, which has about 2,800 students, is seeking compensation from a $5.45 billion fund Congress created to fully compensate victims of the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire, the biggest fire in New Mexico history, which started due to two botched prescribed burns on federal land in early 2022.
The wildfire burned more than 530 square miles and destroyed several hundred homes. It also upended life at the university, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday. The lawsuit does not provide a dollar figure, but it lists a variety of losses, including structural damage to university property from flooding and erosion; forced closures; increased insurance premiums; as well as emergency staffing costs for student support and operational expenses.
But rather than applying for compensation made available through the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire Assistance Act, the university’s lawsuit says it is being required to first exhaust another means of covering some of those costs known as the FEMA Public Assistance program.
That program is reserved for public entities like local governments and school districts seeking reimbursement for emergency and infrastructure costs they suffered during a disaster.
It is also notoriously slow, requiring a seven-step approval process.
“The Public Assistance program is a lengthy discretionary reimbursement program, not a compensation program, that is difficult to navigate, can take years to complete, and will not cover all of Plaintiff’s damages,” writes Brian Colón, a former state auditor and lawyer with Singleton Schreiber, which is suing on NMHU’s behalf.
The City of New Orleans is still awaiting some Public Assistance funds from Hurricane Katrina funds in 2005, according to the lawsuit. Here in New Mexico, six bridges damaged in a 2008 flood in Ruidoso were still awaiting repairs by the time post-fire flooding occurred there last year, delays local officials attribute, in part, to Public Assistance challenges.
And the state of New Mexico has awarded $170 million in zero-interest loans in recent years to local governments affected by various recent disasters, a measure meant to counteract delays associated with the FEMA program.
Since President Donald Trump took office in January, approval for Public Assistance has also become less certain. This week, FEMA declined to cover 100% of the Public Assistance costs incurred from Hurricane Helene in North Carolina and denied the state of Washington’s request for disaster assistance, including Public Assistance, following a bomb cyclone there last year.
Colón, in a brief interview Thursday, said he was unaware of any additional delays or denials for public entities affected by the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire since Trump took office. FEMA officials did not immediately respond to a comment about that or the lawsuit generally on Thursday.
The university is not the first public entity in and around the burn scar to sue FEMA for requiring the extra step. Other plaintiffs include the Mora-San Miguel Electrical Co-operative, Las Vegas City Schools, and the Mora Independent School District. Those cases are all still pending.
As of April 15, the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire Claims Office has paid out $2.25 billion in compensation to individuals, businesses, nonprofits and local governments, which amounts to about 41% of the $5.45 billion Congress awarded. That figure includes $137 million to local governments, most of which was a single payment of $98 million to the City of Las Vegas to replace its water treatment facilities.
The amount paid out via FEMA Public Assistance money is less clear. According to a FEMA website, the agency has obligated a little more than $170 million to local public entities that incurred costs related to the wildfire disaster in New Mexico in 2022. That money goes to public entities in the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire burn scar but also other wildfires that erupted in the state in spring 2022, and it’s not clear how much has been actually paid, not just obligated, so far.