Sen. Wyden, Fisherman’s Wives Meet With the Coast Guard About the Loss of Newport’s Rescue Helicopter

By Brian Bahouth

Listen – 5:23

The State of Oregon, together with Lincoln County and the Newport Fishermen’s Wives organization, are filing lawsuits to compel the federal government to return the Coast Guard search-and-rescue helicopter that was recently moved from the Newport Municipal Airport to North Bend, 95 miles south.

Newport is home to the largest commercial fishing fleet on the Oregon coast. 

The Fishermen’s Wives and Lincoln County filed their lawsuit on Friday. According to Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield, the State will file its lawsuit on Monday. Both legal actions will be adjudicated in federal district court in Eugene.

On Sunday, at the Newport Municipal Airport, U.S. Senator Ron Wyden met with Coast Guard Commander Matt Edes, lawsuit stakeholders and local leaders. Wyden said the meeting with Commander Edes was a bust.

“We inquired in detail with respect to what safety measures they were willing to take for the fishing season. His answers fell way, way, way short, and I’m here on the ground because I want to know what’s going to happen in the air and at sea if there is a rescue needed in this season. 

“And you don’t need to be Sherlock Holmes to know something is up here. And I’m glad the Coast Guard met with us this morning, but for all of the moms and kids and families for whom this is a life and death situation, I want to say our delegation is going to stay at it until we get some real answers,” Wyden said.

The Coast Guard attempted a similar closure in 2014, but the Newport Fishermen’s Wives and local leaders challenged the Coast Guard’s decision in federal court, and Congress ultimately prevented the loss of the Newport rescue helicopter. 

Taunette Dixon is a spokesperson for Newport Fisherman’s Wives and spoke at the press conference on Sunday.

“This was a shocking occurrence for us. We went through this 11 years ago, and after that, we were given assurances that this could not happen again. In this way, we understand that our air station has not been staffed for a while. We were not given that information before that happened, and we are very disappointed that there has been a lack of communication between the Coast Guard and pretty much everybody. 

“We take this personally. My boat is going to be Dungeness crab fishing in just a few weeks. I have family members on that boat. We have a very large Dungeness crab fleet. And when things happen, they happen fast. We can’t wait two hours for a Coast Guard rescue once one of our loved ones, one of our commercial fishing men or women are in that water. They have minutes before they have a lack of use of their limbs. Within an hour, even if they have a flotation device, they don’t have a high survival rate, so we are looking at them recovering our loved ones, not rescuing our loved ones.”

The Coast Guard has not offered a reason why the helicopter was moved from Newport to North Bend. Senator Wyden and local leaders have gathered evidence that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is planning to use the helicopter hangar as an ICE detention facility, though ICE will neither confirm nor deny the possibility.

State Representative David Gomberg attended the meeting with the Coast Guard.

“What we heard from the Coast Guard today is that they are able to meet a two hour response standard from North Bend here off the coast of Newport, which is to suggest, of course, that the conditions in Newport, Oregon are the same as in Newport Beach, California, or Newport, Rhode Island, and they’re not,” Gomberg said after the press conference. 

“Helicopter response from North Bend is anywhere between 90 minutes and two hours. If they were flying out of the airport here, they could get to most of these situations between 15 minutes and half an hour, which is to say enough time to save lives. 

“But there’s something else going on here, and that is that the law requires that before resources be reallocated, that the public be told about it, that our communities be engaged. And that did not happen here. 

“There’s been too much going on of late, right here in Newport, where the federal government is doing things, or potentially planning to do things, and not telling us what it is.”

Taunette Dixon said she is confident Newport Fisherman’s Wives will prevail in court.

“I just want to say that, because we have not had communication with the Coast Guard, because this is such an emergent issue for us, that’s why we have taken it to the courts, and we feel very strongly that they have broken the law and that we have a very strong case against them.”

But time is of the essence. As of now, the federal district court has yet to issue a schedule for the Newport Fisherman’s Wives lawsuit. According to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Dungeness crab season may begin after December 16.