PORT ANGELES — Port of Port Angeles Executive Director Bob McChesney traveled more than 2,500 miles this week to hand-deliver a proposal to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Washington, D.C. — a move that he hopes will help make the difference in a competitive process to woo NOAA’s Seattle-based Pacific Ocean research fleet.
“It was a good idea to hand-deliver it,” he said.
“We got a lot invested in this so far.”
Six vessels of the 11-vessel fleet are located on Lake Union in Seattle.
NOAA’s Lake Union lease is up in 2011, and the agency is considering moving to a new location in 2012, said Capt. Michelle Bullock.
Relocating the vessels — which conduct research on climate change, ecosystems, the health of fisheries and hydrographic surveying — would bring about 180 jobs to Port Angeles, the port officials have said.
The Port of Bellingham, Port of Seattle and the Port of Newport, Ore., have also shown interest in attracting NOAA.
The Bellingham Herald reported on Jan. 27 that the Port of Bellingham was submitting a proposal.
The proposal delivered by McChesney includes information about port facilities and a slew of other details such as the cost of living in Port Angeles and Clallam County and accessibility to institutions of higher learning such as Peninsula College.
Reid Middleton of Everett was hired on Jan. 12 to prepare the document.
The firm’s $129,000 fee was split three ways, with the port paying $54,000, the city of Port Angeles paying $50,000 and Clallam County paying $25,000.
Because of the short notice from NOAA on the deadline for submitting the proposal, which was Wednesday, Reid Middleton began working on the project a few weeks before funding was allocated.
John Calhoun, port commission president, said the document — which included input from community leaders and organizations — is 3 inches thick.
“It was a team effort brought together in a relatively short period of time,” he said. “There is a great deal of detail as far as costs and so forth.”
McChesney said he met with the staff of Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Belfair, in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday about attracting NOAA to Port Angeles.
He said that Dicks — the representative for the 6th Congressional District, which includes the North Olympic Peninsula — is encouraging NOAA to select Port Angeles.
Terminal No. 3
McChesney said the port is offering Terminal No. 3 in Port Angeles to NOAA.
Terminal No. 1 and the 75-acre former Rayonier Inc. pulp mill on the Port Angeles waterfront at the end of Ennis Street also were considered as possible sites for the fleet.
McChesney previously said that NOAA representatives showed the most interest in the Rayonier site when they took a tour of the area one year ago.
He said the terminal is a better option because the port does not own the Rayonier property, and the port can’t guarantee it would be available, especially since it is a state Department of Ecology cleanup site.
“They indicated to us that they thought, of all the potential sites, that one probably worked best for them,” McChesney said.
Calhoun said the port would have to invest about $30 million to accommodate NOAA at the terminal.
McChesney said the port will get its return on investment within the proposed 20-year lease.
“If we didn’t think so, we wouldn’t have submitted,” he said.
He declined to say how much the lease could be for because of the competitiveness of the bid process.
Bullock said that NOAA is looking for the option that provides the best value for the agency, not necessarily the lowest cost.
McChesney said that accommodating NOAA would include extending the pier at Terminal No. 3.
According to NOAA, it research fleet needs 1,550 usable liner feet of pier for large ships and 400 linear feet of pier for small boats.
The Terminal No. 3 pier is 445 feet long.
Bullock said that the ships average about 200 feet in length.
McChesney said Terminal No. 3 now is used for ship repair and other lay berth activity such as storing a ship while not in use.
He said those activities would be moved to Terminal No. 1 if NOAA picks Port Angeles.
McChesney said that terminal can handle the additional use.
Bullock said that NOAA doesn’t have a solid time line for selecting a new location, but it is shooting for late summer or early fall.
“We’re really not sure at this time how long it will take,” Bullock said.
“The environmental impact assessment is the big question.”
McChesney said the “negotiation round,” which will involve the finalists, will begin after NOAA reviews the submittals and gives them a grade.
“We fully expect that the Port Angeles proposal will make it to the negotiation round,” he said.
“We have captured the imagination of NOAA.”
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
