By The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The Government Accountability Office has upheld an appeal of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s decision to move its research fleet from Seattle to Oregon.
The GAO said today it was upholding an appeal by the Port of Bellingham, which also bid for the fleet [along with the ports of Port Angeles and Seattle].
A GAO spokesman said the ruling does not overturn NOAA’s decision to base the fleet at Newport, Ore., about 130 miles southwest of Portland.
But the GAO asked NOAA to reassess its decision because the Newport site is at odds with NOAA’s own requirements. The site is within the 100-year flood plain at the mouth of the Yaquina River, the GAO said.
The GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, said NOAA should consider and document whether there was a practical alternative to Newport among the five bidders for the 20-year lease.
NOAA plans to base four research ships and up to two visiting ships at the new port, beginning in 2011.
The vessels have been based in Seattle for 45 years, but the agency in August awarded a 20-year lease to Newport. The base in Seattle currently has about 175 employees, including 110 officers and crew assigned to the ships.
Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., who has pushed to overturn NOAA’s decision, said the GAO “made the right call” in sustaining Bellingham’s protest.
“I commend the Port of Bellingham for its courageous decision to pursue this protest and seek a reversal of NOAA’s decision to move its Pacific home port,” Cantwell said.
“Throughout the process, Bellingham has made a strong case against NOAA’s decision and pursued their protest with tenacity and strong leadership.”
Newport, long famed as a vacation and fishing spot on the central Oregon coast, has developed in recent years as a research center, with Oregon State University’s Hatfield Marine Science Center and the nearby Oregon Coast Aquarium on the south side of Yaquina Bay. The new NOAA base would be in the same South Beach area, said Don Mann, general manager of the Port of Newport.