Peninsula Daily News news sources
GRANTS PASS, Ore. — The nation’s top ocean research agency says it can’t find a better base for its research fleet than the port of Newport on the Oregon coast.
The review issued today marks the latest round in a hot political battle between Oregon and Washington state over which will be the home port of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s four research ships since facilities on Seattle’s Lake Union burned.
The review found the Newport site is in a floodplain, but so are sites in Bellingham and Port Angeles, which have also sought to be sites for the NOAA fleet relocation.
Also, the two Washington sites have lower technical ratings, and the Newport proposal is cheaper, the NOAA report says.
An eleventh-hour bid has been made on behalf of Sand Point on Lake Washington in Seattle.
Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, a proponent of the move to the Oregon town 115 miles southwest of Portland, says this is a definitive decision, although NOAA’s final decision awaits a 30-day public comment period.
The Port of Bellingham appealed the NOAA’s August decision to move its fleet to Newport.
If bidding is reopened, then the Port of Port Angeles could be back in the running.
NOAA said that Newport’s bid, aided by a $19.5 million state subsidy, offered the best price and the best facilities.
But NOAA is reconsidering that decision after Bellingham successfully argued that the Newport site is in a flood plain.
The Government Accountability Office recommended in December that NOAA reconsider.
