Plan to move NOAA fleet to Oregon hits snag

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's plan to move its research fleet from Washington to Oregon hit a snag Wednesday, but it's not clear yet whether the plan will be permanently beached.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) upheld a protest by the Port of Bellingham, which argued that the proposed new homeport in the coastal community of Newport was in a floodplain.

NOAA's bid specifications and federal regulations prohibit building in a floodplain unless there is no "practicable alternative."

The GAO also said NOAA should pay the cost of Bellingham's appeal, estimated at $200,000.

The current lease at Lake Union expires in 2011. Seattle, Bellingham, Port Angeles and Newport competed for a new, 20-year lease.

The GAO's decision was cheered by Bellingham officials and U.S. Sens. Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray of Washington, who have led the state's congressional delegation in protesting the move.

"As I have said all along, NOAA's decision was a mistake," Murray said in a joint news release with Cantwell. "For decades NOAA has called the Puget Sound home because it provides the people, resources and setting that help the agency best carry out its important scientific mission."

But Bellingham officials said they don't know whether NOAA will now eliminate Newport from the running, reopen the bid process or find another way around the floodplain issue.

The GAO recommended that NOAA pick another alternative — if one is feasible.

NOAA spokesman David Hall said the agency is reviewing the decision and "will take the steps necessary to address GAO's concerns."

It's also unclear whether the decision revives Seattle's hopes of holding onto the NOAA fleet, which has been based on Lake Union for nearly 50 years. GAO earlier dismissed an appeal filed by the owners of the Lake Union property where the fleet is based.

Michael Denning, one of the Lake Union property owners, said he wasn't sure they would submit a new bid even if the process is reopened. "We're not ruling anything out," he said. "But they [NOAA] don't want to be in Seattle as near as I can tell."

NOAA's Pacific fleet includes four ships based at the homeport and six based in Alaska, California and Oregon. The vessels are used for fisheries research, oceanography and undersea mapping.

NOAA said Newport's bid was the best and cheapest, with an annual rent of $2.5 million.

The annual lease at Bellingham would cost NOAA about $4 million, while the Lake Union site proposed a cost of nearly $6 million a year.

Newport was aided in its bid by a $19 million subsidy from Oregon lottery funds to help construct a new facility.

But GAO said it's clear that piers to be built in Newport's Yaquina Bay would be in the 100-year floodplain and would have environmental impacts NOAA failed to consider. "The ground rules have not been followed," said Michael Golden, associate general counsel in charge of bid protests at the GAO.

General Manager Don Mann said the Port of Newport is proceeding with preparations, and hopes to begin construction in January. "The decision doesn't reverse anything," he said.

The piers are designed to be high enough to avoid damage in a flood, Mann added.

Sandi Doughton: 206-464-2491 or sdoughton@seattletimes.com