Abstract:
The purpose of the proposed project is to construct a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s
(NOAA) Marine Operations Center – Pacific (MOC-P) facility in Newport. The MOC-P coordinates NOAA’s
ships in the Pacific Ocean, and provides a home to four of the ships in the fleet. The MOC-P team is comprised
of approximately 75 NOAA Office of Marine and Aviation Operations (OMAO) officers and administrative staff,
and approximately 115 crew members associated with the four vessels typically home ported at MOC-P.
In 2009, NOAA signed a 20-year lease with the Port of Newport to move their MOC-P to Newport. The NOAA
facility will be constructed on an approximately five-acre site along the south bank of Yaquina Bay in the South
Beach area of Newport. The facility will include LEED-certified, environmentally sustainable buildings and
warehouse space, and an approximately 1,300-foot long wharf connected to the land by two approximately
260-foot long access piers. The wharf and access piers have been designed to meet NOAA’s functional
requirements. The pile-supported wharf will provide berths for four NOAA ships (McArthur II, Miller Freeman,
Rainier and Bell M. Shimada, a new fisheries survey ship expected to join the fleet in 2010). The facility will
also support up to two visiting ships.
The MOC-P facility will occupy approximately 5.5 acres. The upland facility will be
comprised of a two-story administrative office building, a single story warehouse, security and hazardous
materials buildings, site access roads and walkways, parking areas, open areas for staging, a warehouse
loading area, and dockside areas for loading the ships.
The Joint Permit Application addresses how the project will impact wetlands and aquatic environs.
