Maine was denied for a disaster declaration for December’s ice storm, largely due to a regulation change and documentation issues, according to Maine Emergency Management Agency spokesperson Lynette Miller.
Governor Paul LePage filed a request on Feb. 21 for a “major disaster” declaration from President Barack Obama for the period of Dec. 21, 2013, to Jan. 1, 2014.
The request was based on a preliminary assessment of $1,899,973 in public damages borne in the state’s 16 counties.
According to Miller, the state had to meet a threshold of $1.85 million based on a minimum of $1.39 in public damages per capita in order to receive public assistance, and counties must have damages of $3.50 per capita.
Lincoln County’s public damage assessment came in at $22,111, or just $0.64 per capita.
LePage received a response from the Federal Emergency Management Agency on March 12 denying his request for a disaster declaration.
“Based on our review of all the information available, it has been determined that the damage from this event was not of such severity and magnitude as to be beyond the capabilities of the state and affected local governments,” the letter states. “Accordingly, we have determined that supplemental federal assistance is not necessary.”
LePage has until April 11 to appeal the denial, according to the letter.
Miller said April 1 that several issues played a role in FEMA’s denial.
“One was a regulation that took effect after the request went in … a regulation that raised the minimum of the amount any town had to meet to be eligible from $1000 to $3000,” Miller said. “The way the new regulation was written, there was no grandfathering.”
Through that regulation change, about $93,000 was disallowed from LePage’s request, she said.
Separately, other damages were disallowed because FEMA felt there was not enough documentation, Miller said. Most of those damages related to debris removal, she said.
“The end result of the line items that were disallowed was that it dropped the state below the minimum threshold,” she said.
Miller said MEMA will continue to work with towns to get more information on their damages, but would need to document enough damage to get the state back above its $1.85 million threshold in order to make a successful appeal.
Whether or not an appeal will be made will be up to LePage, Miller said.
“He and his staff would certainly want to know that we’re back over the threshold,” she said.
