After decades in Seattle, NOAA vessels to ship out

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration won't yet reveal why it decided to move its research fleet from Seattle to Newport, Ore., but disappointed locals laid the blame on money.

The state of Oregon and the Port of Newport agreed to issue up to $44 million in bonds to build a state-of-the-art facility for the ships on Yaquina Bay. A co-owner of the Lake Union facility where the NOAA ships have been based for nearly 50 years said Tuesday it would have taken $25 million in upgrades to match the "Maserati" that government subsidies allowed Newport to offer.

"How do you compete with that?" asked Michael Denning, part of the multifamily group that has owned the property since the 1920s.

Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell, who chairs the Senate subcommittee that oversees NOAA, vowed to fight the decision.

"I'm not confident that all the options have been thoroughly reviewed," she said in a statement.

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels joined in the grumbling, saying "ultimately, this was a real-estate decision."

Denning said he doesn't know if the property owners will lodge a formal protest. It won't be hard to find other uses for eight acres of lakefront property near the heart of Seattle, he added.

The move, scheduled for mid-2011, will affect 175 NOAA employees, mostly crews of the four research vessels based in Seattle. The agency's Pacific Marine Operations Center also supports six other vessels in Alaska, Hawaii and California.

The NOAA fleet is used for nautical charting, fisheries surveys and studies on everything from ocean chemistry to seals. The Seattle-based ships spend most of their time in Alaska and off the Northwest coast.

Newport offers easier access to the ocean, but the town of 11,000 people can't match Seattle's scientific stature, said University of Washington oceanographer Steve Riser.

"Seattle is really the center of oceanographic research," he said. In addition to the University of Washington, Seattle is home to two major NOAA labs, at Sand Point and near Montlake. Those facilities, with more than 1,200 employees, aren't going anywhere. Shifting the ships to Newport will raise the price tag to transport scientific equipment and people, Riser said.

"It's going to be a difficult place, logistically, to operate from," he said. "The scientific costs will undoubtedly go way up."

Maintenance costs also could climb, as ships moored in saltwater require more hull-cleaning than ships kept in freshwater.

NOAA has kept ships in Lake Union since 1916. The agency's lease on its current facility, which was damaged by fire in 2006, expires in June 2011. Bellingham and Port Angeles joined the competition for the next 20-year lease.

NOAA evaluated the sites against several criteria, including location, facilities and quality of life for employees. "Cost was always a factor, but it was not the end-all," said Rear Adm. Jonathan Bailey, director of marine operations.

The agency would not release a comparison of the sites or reveal the factors that went into the decision. The federal "best value" contracting process requires that information be kept secret until after a lease is signed with Newport — which hasn't happened yet, Bailey said.

The site was picked by a NOAA "source selection specialist," he said. Not even NOAA chief Jane Lubchenco, an Oregon State University marine biologist, nor Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, former Washington governor, had a say. NOAA is part of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

"I can assure you this was a very clean and fair process," Bailey said.

But Cantwell questioned the lack of "input from members of the public or elected officials."

In Newport, officials were celebrating Tuesday.

The NOAA fleet will boost the region's economy by about $350 million over the next 20 years, said Newport Mayor Bill Bain. "It makes my head swim when I think about what all the impacts are."

Newport is an emerging center of ocean science, with OSU's Hatfield Marine Science Center and field stations for NOAA's Seattle labs. About 120 NOAA staff and contractors already work there.

The town is "centrally located" for NOAA's missions, said Capt. Michele Bullock, the Pacific fleet's commanding officer. The new facilities will "make our operations a lot more efficient," she said.

Since the 2006 fire destroyed two piers, NOAA has been forced to berth some of its vessels at the Port of Seattle and a local shipyard.

Newport also will offer two extra berths for visiting ships, Bullock said.

But some of the employees facing relocation are not pleased, she acknowledged.

"A lot of folks have been here for a long time."

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