An appeal of NOAA's planned move from Lake Union to Newport, Oregon, has been denied by the Government Accountability Office apparently because owners of the land the Seattle base sits on failed to file a legal response in time.
NOAA announced in August that it would be leaving the Lake Union site where it has had a base for several decades and would relocate to Newport's Yaquina Bay starting in 2011. Both the Seattle owners (1801 Fairview Avenue East LLC) and the Port of Bellingham, which had also been bidding for the NOAA base, filed appeals. A decision on the Bellingham appeal is pending, according to the Bellingham Herald.
The two-page GAO decision, announced Thursday, says the Seattle appeal was denied because "the protester failed to file any comments on the agency report within 10 calendar days after the report due date, as required by our Bid Protest Regulations."
Chris Leman, Eastlake Community Council vice president, explained to the ECC Board in September that NOAA had 30 days to respond to the appeal. After NOAA's response was filed, the land owners had 30 days to respond, which they apparently failed to do.
The Associated Press quotes Sen. Maria Cantwell's office as saying the owners of the property decided they no longer wanted to pursue the appeal.
Cantwell, in a letter to Commerce Secretary (and former Washington state governor Gary Locke), cast doubts on whether the move is a good one for NOAA. The Seattle Times quoted from her letter: "I have serious doubts about whether the final award decision is truly in the best long-term interest of NOAA, its scientific mission and its employees."
The Salem Statesman-Journal quoted Newport city councilor Patricia Patrick-Joling as saying that Newport residents were indifferent to GAO the ruling because everyone there assumed NOAA would be moving:
"All of Newport is moving forward. The Port is moving forward, the city is moving forward. We are looking forward to NOAA being a member of the Newport family. That's all she wrote."
A commenter on the Statesman-Journal web site said: "The NOAA is coming to Newport! Too bad Washingtonians!"
It's unclear whether there are any options remaining for those opposing the move. When the appeals were first filed, hope for overturning the decision rested on a regulation from the Carter presidency that prohibits building federal facilities on wetlands and flood plains. And the Newport base would sit on a 100-year flood plain.
