A federal judge in Eugene extended a temporary court order on Monday requiring the U.S. Coast Guard to maintain a search and rescue helicopter in Newport for at least the next two weeks.
The agency had reduced the helicopter’s presence at the Newport Air Facility without following a number of procedures outlined by federal law, according to attorneys representing the nonprofit Newport Fisherman’s Wives, Lincoln County and the Oregon Department of Justice.
For example, they failed to notify Congress and the public, and did not observe the required 18-month waiting period before making changes.
U.S. Coast Guard officials “did not understand the impact of that statute and as such run afoul of it, it seems to me,” U.S. District Court Judge Ann Aiken concluded towards the end of Monday’s hearing. “That’s sort of how I read it.”
Aiken first ordered the rescue helicopter’s return to Newport in a Nov. 24 temporary restraining order. Oregon’s U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley announced last week they had spoken with Coast Guard leaders who confirmed the helicopter would remain in Newport.
Congress first authorized the Newport helicopter in 1987, following the sinking of a fishing vessel that left three dead. The statute was most recently reauthorized by President Donald Trump during his first term.
Aiken’s order Monday is the latest in a political and legal drama that’s rapidly escalated, emanating from Oregon’s central coast. In early November, residents in Newport noticed a lengthy absence of the Dolphin MH-65 Echo rescue helicopter from the city’s municipal airport where the Coast Guard has regularly operated for nearly 40 years.
Around the same time, the city of Newport began receiving inquiries from federal contractors and noticed job postings advertising a possible immigration detention facility.
During Monday’s hearing, Eric Brickenstein, one of the attorneys for the county and the nonprofit, argued Aiken should issue a preliminary injunction, forcing the Coast Guard to keep operating a helicopter out of Newport. He pointed out the federal government admits they didn’t follow the statute.
“No public meetings were held, none of Oregon’s congressional representatives were notified, the community was not informed, and certainly the 18-month waiting period was not observed,” Brickenstein argued.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Susanne Luse, who represents the Coast Guard, argued during Monday’s hearing, the relocation was temporary and therefore didn’t violate the law.
Luse went on to explain that part of the reasoning for the relocation included staffing issues, not enough helicopters, and missions that extend beyond search and rescue operations.
As a way to address some of those issues, Coast Guard officials approved temporary changes to the way the Newport facility operates, including “the discontinuation of staffing Air Facility Newport with a B-1 aircrew between 05 May and 30 September 2025,” according to agency memos from earlier this year.
B-1 is a designation that requires crews be able to launch within an hour of a distress notification. The Coast Guard has argued in the past the Newport facility is redundant given the larger facilities it operates in North Bend and Astoria. Anglers and commercial crabbers have pushed back against that argument, arguing time is often of the essence during cold-water emergencies on the high seas.
An Oct. 29 memo with the subject, “Air Facility Newport Staffing Management Efficiencies,” the U.S. Coast Guard’s Scott J. Giard extended the modification stating that other “mission critical deployment of aviation personnel preclude the reconstitution of a B-1 readiness at Air Facility Newport.”
One mission requested sending a helicopter and crew from the Coast Guard’s North Bend Air Station — which also staffs the Newport facility — to San Diego, according to emails attached to court filings.
During that temporary deployment, the helicopter crew flew just four times over the course of one week, before Aiken issued the Nov. 24 temporary restraining order.
While in California, the helicopter crew responded to a fire on-board a container ship at the Port of Los Angeles.
“The other three flights were in support of Operation Border Trident, a Coast Guard operation to control the nation’s southwest maritime border,” Luse stated in court filings.
The government’s court filings suggest that temporary helicopter deployment out of North Bend to the Southern border came despite significant aircraft maintenance challenges.
“Of the five helicopters permanently assigned to AIRSTA [Air Station] North Bend, three are currently non-operational due to significant maintenance issues and the need for tail rotor parts that are not available,” the U.S. Coast Guard’s Capt. Kent Reinhold stated in a Dec. 5 sworn declaration filed with the court.
Reinhold said that’s left “two remaining operational helicopters available” one of which is now located in Newport to comply with Aiken’s temporary court orders.
During Monday’s hearing in Eugene, Aiken said she had not seen any evidence in the record to suggest the Coast Guard had followed the law when it came to relocating its helicopter from Newport.
Luse summed up the Coast Guard’s resources as a “chessboard” moving pieces around.
“It’s not a chessboard of assets,” Aiken shot back. “It’s a statute that has to be followed.”
In the meantime, the Coast Guard’s Capt. Reinhold stated the agency would continue to rotate helicopters and crew in Newport through next spring.
This story comes to you from the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.
