Congressman Kurt Schrader led the fight today to defeat an amendment, introduced by Washington State Congressman Jim McDermott, that would have prohibited funding in the FY2011 Continuing Resolution from being used to facilitate NOAA's relocation of their Marine Operations Center-Pacific (MOC-P) to Newport, Oregon.

"The facts have been clear since day one," Schrader said while defending the move from the House Floor. " Newport was the superior choice for the taxpayers and the best choice to fulfill NOAA's mission. And, most importantly, the relocation of NOAA's pacific fleet represents a huge boost for our coastal communities that will bring much needed jobs and translate into significant economic benefits for the wider region. The Port of Newport and the community made a compelling case to NOAA to make this decision possible and I was proud to stand with them today to defeat this amendment."

Watch Congressman Schrader's floor speech here.

In 2006, the pier at NOAA's Lake Union Seattle facility was destroyed by fire and was never reconstructed by the landlord.  Since then, NOAA ships have been berthed at various locations in the Greater Puget Sound and NOAA has not had the benefit of collocated ship berthing and shore side support.
 
Collocation of vessels produces logistical efficiencies during maintenance and training periods, eliminates the need to lease temporary berthing at other facilities and eliminates loss of production from travel between different facilities.  With the problems associated with their current location and the lease expiring at Lake Union in mid-2011, NOAA began a competitive bidding process for the relocation of their Pacific fleet.
 
Four proposals were submitted -- 3 in Washington and 1 in Newport, Oregon.  The Newport proposal was the highest technically-rated and lowest priced of all proposals, including the offer from the current location at Lake Union.  Newport has nearly completed the newly constructed state of the art LEED rated facilities which include: a two-story administration building, warehouse, workshop, boat shed, pier with berths for six ships, and a small boat dock.
 
All the work to date has been done with local and state dollars with no cost to the federal government.  Newport is ahead of schedule and will be ready to hand over the keys to NOAA on May 1st when NOAA's 20-year lease is set to commence.   NOAA will then be obligated to commence the 20-year lease in May of this year.
 
The new facility in Newport brings cost offsets and advantages to the NOAA Pacific fleet and American taxpayers:

•    A closer proximity to the open ocean reduces transit costs and traffic interference with other vessels, increasing safety and efficiency. Typically a transit by NOAA ships from the current Lake Union site to open ocean is eight hours and could be longer based on traffic and availability of the Lake Union lock.  Transit from Newport to open ocean is 20 to 30 minutes.

•    The new facility in Newport will be located next door to the Oregon State University Hatfield Marine Science Center (HMSC), enabling additional partnerships between federal government and academia.

•    The relocation will strengthen a 27 year Oregon State University/NOAA Cooperative Institute for Marine Resources Studies (CIMRS) program, which offers opportunities for joint research and outreach to a growing community of University and NOAA scientists dedicated to marine science, graduate education and learning partnerships with regional industries and communities that are dependent on marine resources.

•    Relocation to the newly constructed facilities in Newport, Oregon, represents the most cost effective way to maintain and operate the valuable resource of NOAA’s entire Pacific Fleet and the best value to the Government.