Appeal filed over plan to move NOAA's fleet

The owners of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's longtime home port on Lake Union are appealing the agency's decision to move its research fleet to Newport, Ore.

"I think we have a great chance," said Roque Deherrera, of Seattle's Office of Economic Development. "We continue to believe Lake Union is the best possible location for NOAA's Marine Operations Center."

A representative of the property owners had said an appeal was unlikely. But city staffers helped prepare the protest, which was e-mailed to NOAA headquarters just before the deadline Friday afternoon.

The Port of Bellingham, which was among four sites vying for the lease, filed a protest Thursday. The other losing bidder, the Port of Port Angeles, asked NOAA to stop the clock on the deadline until the federal agency provided more details about how it scored the sites.

In their protests, both Seattle and Bellingham pointed out that NOAA's own environmental analysis says Newport's Yaquina Bay, at the mouth of the Yaquina River, is in a flood plain.

Seattle also argues the move would prove costly for NOAA in the long run and would undermine the safety of the fleet and its research and science missions.

"One may ask how NOAA, an agency whose mariners are one of the nation's oldest and most distinguished uniformed services, whose scientists are renowned the world over ... could have produced a relocation decision that is so counterproductive to the NOAA budget and mission," says the protest document.

NOAA did not include "truly experienced" mariners or scientists on the team that made the decision, the appeal says.

Newport's selection shocked Seattle, which was considered the front-runner for a new, 20-year lease. The Lake Union site has served as NOAA's home port for nearly 50 years. Four ships are based in Seattle, and the center supports six other ships based in Alaska, Hawaii and California.

Lake Union's freshwater moorage is sheltered, and the region offers abundant shipyards and other maritime-support industries. Seattle is also home to NOAA's Western Regional Center and two major NOAA science labs, whose researchers use the ships to survey fish populations, map the sea floor and study climate change.

Newport was aided in its bid by a $19.5 million subsidy from the state of Oregon, which will issue bonds to be repaid with lottery money. That boost would allow Newport to build a new $34 million facility and offer NOAA the cheapest lease, at about $2.5 million a year.

Newport's proposal also scored highest overall on the six technical factors used to evaluate the competing sites, including quality of facilities, quality of life for the 175 NOAA employees who staff and support the fleet, and the ability to meet NOAA's move-in date of July 2011.

But Seattle's protest says NOAA underestimated how long it will take Newport to get environmental approval and construction permits to build new piers and waterfront buildings. The Seattle site is in need of significant upgrades and repairs after a 2006 fire, but permits for that work are already in hand, Deherrera said.

The lease at Lake Union would cost NOAA between $4 million and $5 million a year, making it the most expensive option. NOAA officials said their evaluation ranked cost significantly lower than technical merit.

Seattle argues that the Newport site would prove the most expensive in the long run. NOAA would have to spend about $1.7 million a year to ship fuel by barge to the Oregon coast, hire pilots to navigate treacherous river bars, and bring ships back to Seattle for major repairs, the appeal says.

Many of NOAA's support staff would stay in Seattle rather than move to Newport, the appeal points out, costing the agency experience and manpower. Newport also is more vulnerable to storms and its waters more difficult and dangerous to navigate than Puget Sound, the appeal says.

"It is no coincidence that Yaquina Bay is no major shipping center, as it has notoriously rough water and weather," the document reads.

NOAA officials have insisted the review process was "squeaky clean," and have said there's little chance the decision will be overturned. One official estimated only about 5 percent of appeals are successful.

Seven members of Washington's congressional delegation, including Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, have also asked the U.S. Government Accountability Office to review the decision. A spokesman said the GAO will decide in the next few weeks whether to conduct such a review.

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