GRANTS PASS, Ore. — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Friday it will take another look at the decision to move its research fleet from Seattle to the central Oregon Coast after a competing port raised questions about the potential for flooding.
NOAA chief administrative officer William F. Broglie said from Washington, D.C., the agency would follow Government Accountability Office recommendations. The Federal Emergency Management Agency will review potential flooding problems around piers to be built on Newport’s Yaquina Bay, and whether the port’s plans for dealing with them are adequate.
NOAA will review whether proposals from Seattle, Port Angeles and Bellingham, would be suitable alternatives, without the same flood plain issues. If the agency decides they would not, GAO will review that decision, Broglie added.
NOAA’s announcement last month that it would move four research ships from Seattle to Newport was a plum for Oregon, which had kicked in $19 million that allowed Newport to significantly lower its bid, and did not go down well in Washington state, which offered no financial backing.
Basing four ships, 60 shoreside personnel and 110 crew at Newport was estimated to pump $19 million a year into the regional economy, where tourism has not made up for downturns in logging and commercial fishing over the past two decades.
Port of Newport general manager Don Mann said changing course at this point would cause a host of problems. NOAA has already signed a 20-year lease for $52 million for the Newport site. The port has contracted work that has already begun on new shoreside facilities for the NOAA research fleet next to the Hatfield Marine Science Center. Any delays would force them to miss the May 2011 deadline for the fleet to move in. Work on new piers can’t start until November.
“I think we are all remaining fairly optimistic things will keep moving in a positive manner,” Mann said. “It’s a good thing to know that nobody has asked us to slow down” on work that has already started.
The GAO had endorsed a protest lodged by the Port of Bellingham, saying NOAA had not complied with an executive order requiring them to see if there was a practicable alternative to awarding the lease to a site with no floodplain problems.
NOAA’s analysis had not looked at final revised proposals to mitigate flooding, so the agency is looking at those to see how they stack up, Broglie said.
The fleet’s lease is running out at its base in Seattle, where the docks had burned, and staying there would have required building new docks, as well as much higher leasing costs, Broglie said.
In choosing Newport, home to an existing team of NOAA scientists who study fisheries, underwater volcanoes, earthquakes and marine mammals, the agency took into account a range of factors, including access to support facilities, quality of facilities, a central location for research voyages extending from Mexico to Alaska, and livability, Broglie said.
NOAA chief Jane Lubchenco, who was a marine biologist at Oregon State University before taking the NOAA post, had no part in the selection process, Broglie added.
Bellingham interim port director Fred Seeger said they thought the bidding process had been unfair from the start, because they were not notified of any ceiling on bids. If they had been, they would not have spent $300,000 preparing their bid.
Bellingham’s bid of more than $4 million a year was much higher than Newport’s bid of $2.6 million a year.
“It’s promising from our standpoint that independent agencies are involved in the process that is going to go forward,” Seeger said. “The port will continue to monitor this, along with the Washington state federal delegation.”
John Diamond, spokesman for U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said they were encouraged by the review, but still had concerns.
“We wonder whether the review is really going to be about taking a serious second look or validating the decision that has already been made,” he said. “We certainly are concerned if the criteria they are using is somehow slanted in such a way as to prevent Bellingham from having a fair chance.”
Oregon’s two Democratic senators said that after speaking with Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, they remained confident Newport would get the fleet in the end. Locke is the former governor of Washington.
“Newport was awarded the NOAA contract because — after a thorough review of its cost and technical merits — it was the best value for taxpayers and the best facility for the fleet,” Sen. Ron Wyden and Sen. Jeff Merkley said in a joint statement.
Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski echoed their confidence.
NOAA expects to complete its review by May 28.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
