Funding of about $82.7 million is being reviewed in Congress for a project that will see improved irrigation infrastructure for half a dozen Rio Grande Pueblos in New Mexico.
Democrat Representative Melanie Stansbury has submitted a funding request for the project as part of a process seeing the marking up of appropriations bills in Congress this week.
The $82.7 million is classified as Community Project Funding, and is part of a much larger $158.4 million Stansbury is hoping to secure for fifteen varied public infrastructure and facility projects.
The Rio Grande Pueblos work will include upgrading acequia and irrigation infrastructure, focusing on deferred maintenance issues, repairs, and upgrades. In so doing, the agricultural lands of six middle Rio Grande Pueblos will be subject to improved irrigation.
Other Community Project Funding requests submitted by Stansbury include $3 million for the construction of a regional wildfire mitigation and training complex in Lincoln County; $1.3 million for the building of a new fire station in Fort Sumter; and $8 million for a modern acute care hospital in Valencia County.
In a statement, Stansbury remarked that the Community Project Funding mechanism is “one of the most powerful tools we have to deliver investments necessary to support lasting and generational change for communities across our state.”
The funding requests are now being reviewed by House Appropriations Committee as part of the overall fiscal year 2026 appropriations process.
June 6, 2025
By Garry Boulard
Photo courtesy of office of Melanie Stansbury
