Oregon State Rep. Jean Cowan, left, joins Port of Newport General Manager Don Mann, right, and Jessica Hamilton from Gov. Ted Kulongoski’s staff during a recent visit by Jane Lubchenco, head of NOAA. Cowan and other legislators approved $19.5 million in bonding capacity from the state for the port’s effort to get NOAA to make Yaquina Bay the site for its Marine Operations Center - Pacific (MOC-P) fleet. (Photo by Terry Dillman)

State offers $19.5 million inducement to tip scale toward Yaquina Bay homeport



A 1985 song by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers notes, “You take it on faith, you take it to the heart. The waiting is the hardest part.”

Port of Newport officials have taken to heart their efforts to entice the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to berth the Marine Operations Center - Pacific (MOC-P) fleet in Yaquina Bay. And they have faith in the possibility of luring the agency to sign a lease making Newport the fleet’s new homeport, especially with backing from the local community and state lawmakers.

NOAA is navigating toward a decision they expect to make in August on whether to stay at the existing Lake Union location in Seattle, or drop the mooring lines and weigh anchor for either Newport, Port Angeles, or Bellingham. Port General Manager Don Mann called the port’s final revised proposal the “best and final offer” to land the 20-year renewable lease, and the economic benefits that would follow in its wake.

They sent off the revamped bid June 2, and entered the hardest part of the process: waiting.

A potential economic boost of more than $370 million for Newport and Oregon for the 20-year lease is propelling the port’s proposal. A $44 million, 18-month project to build the facility would begin in August in a rural, economically depressed area. It would create jobs, stimulate the local economy, and bring a “substantial flow” of federal money in its wake.

Port officials said they have successfully shown the ability to meet or exceed the lease requirements. To build the required docks and other structures, the port would issue $24.76 million in revenue bonds to cover half the cost of the new facility, supplemented by $19.5 million in bonding capacity from the state.

Rep. Jean Cowan, D-Newport, said the legislature approved Senate Bill 5534 during “the final hours” of their recent session.

“Even during such challenging economic times, they recognized the long-term benefits of this project, and were willing to commit some of our limited bonding capacity to the Port of Newport’s effort,” Cowan noted.

The state responded to what Mann called a “tag team lobbying effort” by him and the port commissioners. The project bid has widespread support.

The City of Newport, Lincoln County, and the port commissioners all passed resolutions supporting it. Local officials cited the collaborative work among scientific agencies at Oregon State University’s Hatfield Marine Science Center (HMSC), commercial fishers, vessel owners, state and federal regulatory agencies, and Oregon Coast Aquarium as a compelling reason making Newport “uniquely qualified” as the homeport, and would enable NOIAA “to more effectively pursue its mission.”

Yaquina Bay itself offers “close-up access to high-value marine environments” that “would reduce fuel consumption and carbon footprints from NOAA’s research vessels.”



A ‘central’ location



Newport offers numerous geographical and scientific advantages.

Three of NOAA’s six research vessels work full-time off the Oregon, Washington, and California coasts, two work almost full-time in Alaskan waters, and one divides time among Oregon, Alaska, Washington, and California. Port officials said travel to NOAA research sites in Alaskan waters is nearly the same distance from Newport as it is from Lake Union, and it takes far less time to reach the open ocean from Yaquina Bay.

Mere minutes from access to the open ocean, Yaquina Bay is already home to HMSC, which has established the central Oregon coast as a focal point of ocean-based research. HMSC is also already home to other NOAA research entities, and the central Oregon coast is also a focal point of other key ocean issues, with marine reserves, ocean observatories, and wave energy chief among them.



Preliminary work



Waiting, however, does mean idle.

Mann said discussions with regulatory agencies are “on-going,” and they are gathering preliminary environmental and other site-related information, including a two-day dive in June “to assess existing structural footprints and bay bottom samples.”

NOAA has prepared a draft environmental assessment (EA) for all four potential sites conducted by BergerURS of San Jose, Calif.

The EA notes that the Newport site in South Beach on the south side of the bay features about 5 acres of upland area, and about 1.2 acres of Yaquina Bay, located in an area “zoned for water-dependent and water-related activities.”

The site contains a former pumping station, several container storage units, two docks, and a former farming complex, with abandoned fish ladders, flumes, and ponds. Yaquina Bay Fruit Processors currently lease and use the southwestern section, and adjacent land to the south. Carvahlo Fishing leases and uses the northern section, including the westernmost dock for fish-buying operations. Prior to the mid-1980s, the site - located adjacent to HMSC, which operates a dock east of the site for OSU research vessels - was used a salmon fishing operation.

The site would change dramatically if NOAA opts to move the fleet to Yaquina Bay. NOAA wants a ready-to-dock facility in place by May 1, 2011, and agency officials expect to decide where sometime in August.



The hardest part



NOAA initially evaluated about 80 sites in the Puget Sound region and along the Oregon coast, narrowed the field to about 30 sites, then selected 11 - Newport among them - for a February visit from the agency’s fact-finding evaluation team. Newport weathered another winnowing as NOAA pared the list geographically to Lake Union, Newport, Astoria, Bellingham, and Port Angeles. Astoria dropped out before submitting a final bid, leaving Newport as the only Oregon site among the final four.

Mann urges everyone to continue to voice their support for the project, as they watch and wait and hope the decision isn’t a “heartbreaker.”



























Terry Dillman is the assistant editor of the News-Times. Contact him at (541) 265-8571, ext 225, or terrydillman@newportnewstimes.com.



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