Military - DeFazio Urges Coast Guard to Keep Newport Air Station Open

At a hearing of the Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation on Tuesday, Ranking Member Peter DeFazio (D-OR) voiced his support for the U.S. Coast Guard and its mission, and blasted stagnant budgets that have made it more difficult for the Coast Guard to meet its mission demands and improve its performance. DeFazio also pressed the Coast Guard to continue critical rescue helicopter operations for Oregon's coastal communities.

"Stagnant budgets only perpetuate the same kind of re-shuffling and redeployment of assets which led the Coast Guard to propose the ill-advised closure of its search and rescue air facility in Newport, Oregon, as well as a second air facility in Charleston, South Carolina," said DeFazio. "Had the Oregon Delegation not stepped in last year, the Coast Guard would have lost a busy air facility that handles half of the emergency response calls on the Central Oregon Coast - which faces a cold water environment year round. That's unacceptable."

DeFazio pressed Vice Admiral Charles Michel, Deputy Commandant for Operations for the United States Coast Guard, on the potential closure of the Newport air facility. Vice Admiral Michel said the Coast Guard "got the message loud and clear." The Vice Admiral also reiterated the importance of search and rescue to the Coast Guard's mission and his focus on improving it.

Newport is home to one of Oregon's three deep draft ports, the state's largest grossing commercial fishing fleet, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Pacific Operations Center, Oregon State University research personnel and vessels, and a robust recreational and sport fishing industry that is critical to the local economy.

DeFazio and the Oregon delegation successfully passed legislation last year that delayed the closure and keeping the U.S. Coast Guard's air facility at Newport open through January 2016. However, additional Congressional action may be necessary to keep an air facility in Newport in 2016 and beyond. In March, DeFazio asked Admiral Paul Zukunft, Commandant of the Coast Guard to complete a cost-benefit analysis to show potential tradeoffs of a Newport closure. He asked Zukunft to consider how the closure would stretch the capability and reliability of air assets, lengthen flight trips and ultimately increase maintenance costs due to increased operating hours.

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