Washington, D.C. – Today, Congressman Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico’s Third District highlighted a disaster loan program through the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) that can help businesses recover from February’s natural gas outage.  Small businesses in counties that have been determined to be adversely affected by the disaster can apply for an Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) until March 12, 2012.

“Small businesses throughout New Mexico continue to face challenges as a result of the damage caused by the natural gas outage earlier this year,” Congressman Luján said.  “These loans can help New Mexico’s small businesses rebuild and repair, and I am pleased that SBA has taken this additional step to help our communities with the recovery effort.”

EIDL are working capital loans to help small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives, small businesses engaged in aquaculture, and many private, non-profit organizations of all sizes meet their ordinary and necessary financial obligations that cannot be met as a direct result of the disaster.

Luján wrote to the SBA in April following meetings with local small businesses to discuss the challenges facing businesses in Northern New Mexico in the wake of the natural gas outage.  He encouraged the SBA to provide any additional assistance that was at its disposal in an effort to help impacted communities recover from the disaster.

The following counties have been included in the EIDL declaration: Bernalillo, Chaves, Cibola, Colfax, DeBaca, Guadalupe, Lincoln, Mora, Otero, Rio Arriba, Sandoval, Santa Fe, Sierra, Socorro, Taos, Torrance, and Valencia.

For more information, contact SBA’s Disaster Assistance Customer Service Center by calling (800) 659 2955, emailing This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , or visiting SBA’s Web site at http://www.sba.gov/.  Hearing impaired individuals may call (800) 877 8339.  Applicants may also apply online using the Electronic Loan Application (ELA) via SBA’s secure Web site at https://disasterloan.sba.gov/ela.

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