A Newport nonprofit that supports commercial fishermen joined with Lincoln County to file a lawsuit Friday against the U. S. Department Homeland Security, seeking a judge’s order to return the U. S. Coast Guard rescue helicopter to the coastal city. The state of Oregon plans to file a similar suit on Monday, Attorney General Dan Rayfield said. The suit comes after the Newport Fishermen’s Wives and Lincoln County learned the U. S. Coast Guard had either ceased or drastically reduced its operations at the Newport Air Facility and moved its rescue helicopter about 70 miles south to North Bend. They’ve asked a federal judge in Eugene to bar the removal or reduction of the rescue helicopter’s presence before the Dungeness crab fishing season starts in mid-December. “The abrupt removal of the rescue helicopter and related critical safety infrastructure from the Newport Air Facility puts lives in danger,” the suit says. Rayfield said in a statement: “This helicopter isn’t a luxury-it’s a critical part of how we keep people alive on the Oregon Coast.” Messages left for the U. S. Coast Guard and U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement were not immediately returned Friday night. Oregon coastal water temperatures average 50 to 54-degrees Fahrenheit year-round, and can cause drowning within one to three minutes of immersion, and the stationing of the helicopter further south will reduce critical rescue times from 15 to 30 minutes to 60 to 90 minutes, the suit argues. Becca Bostwick-Terry, president of Newport Fishermen’s Wives, called commercial fishing one of the nation’s most dangerous occupations. It’s the second time Newport Fishermen’s Wives and Lincoln County have turned to the court to intervene to keep the helicopter in Newport. The last time was 11 years ago after the Coast Guard notified the county of a decision to close the Newport Air Facility at the end of November 2014. While the suit was pending, former President Barack Obama signed the Howard Coble Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act into law, prohibiting its closure until January 2016, according to the suit. Although that law is no longer in effect, it required Congress to be notified before any reduction in the use of a Coast Guard air facility and allowed for community input and formal risk assessments before the Coast Guard could relocate or reduce an air station, the suit contends. The legal action also comes amid concerns by local, state and federal lawmakers that Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem plans to open a U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center at the Newport Municipal Airport. Public job postings for “detention officers” based in Newport, a request for septic tank services and a bid to lease four vacant acres at the airport all suggest ICE is planning to build a detention facility, elected officials have said. Newport’s rescue helicopter, the suit argued, has been responsible for the rescue of more than 500 people, including about 30 commercial fishermen whose lives were saved at sea, the suit said. “The mortal threat caused by the Coast Guard’s closure of Newport Air Facility is set to escalate dramatically on December 13, when the Newport fleet will depart to set its gear in advance of the December 15 opening of Dungeness crab season,” attorney Eric J. Brickenstein wrote in the suit. The county and nonprofit are seeking a temporary or permanent injunction to prevent the Coast Guard from eliminating or reducing its air rescue abilities at the Newport Air Facility. “The federal government didn’t just move a piece of machinery. They pulled away a safety net that this community depends on,” Rayfield said in a statement, “and they did it in the dark of night with no transparency and no legal process.”.
https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2025/11/federal-lawsuit-filed-to-restore-newport-coast-guard-rescue-helicopter.html
