WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Government Accountability Office has asked the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to reassess its decision to move its research fleet from Seattle to Oregon.
The GAO said Wednesday it had upheld an appeal of that decision from the Port of Bellingham, which also bid for the fleet. A GAO official says this doesn't overturn the decision to base the fleet at Newport, Ore., but instead asks NOAA to reassess -- because the Newport site is at odds with NOAA's own requirements.
It is within the 100-year flood plain at the mouth of the Yaquina River. The vessels have been based in Seattle for 45 years, but the agency in August awarded a 20-year lease to Newport.
NOAA plans to base four research ships and up to two visiting ships at the new port beginning in 2011.
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