The U.S. Coast Guard has vowed to keep its rescue helicopter in Newport, U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden said Thursday, following a court order to return the aircraft to the coastal Oregon city.
“Some great news: I just got off the phone with the U.S. Coast Guard, who has returned the rescue helicopter to Newport and promised to keep it there,” Wyden said on social media.
The announcement comes after Lincoln County and the Newport Fishermen’s Wives, a nonprofit that supports those in the commercial fishing industry, sued the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Coast Guard in federal court last month after learning the Coast Guard had either ceased or drastically reduced its operations in Newport and moved the helicopter some 70 miles south to North Bend.
Coastal water temperatures average 50- to 54-degrees Fahrenheit year-round and can cause drowning within one to three minutes of immersion, court records alleged. The stationing of the helicopter further south would reduce critical rescue times from 15 to 30 minutes to 60 to 90 minutes, the lawsuit alleged.
A similar lawsuit by the state of Oregon was consolidated with the county suit.
U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken on Nov. 24 issued a temporary restraining order, citing “the danger presented by the lack of rescue helicopter” and ordering the federal government to restore the Coast Guard rescue helicopter to its Newport facility with full operational capabilities and personnel support.
The following day, Newport Mayor Jan Kaplan told residents in a video posted to social media the rescue helicopter had touched down at the agency’s local air station to refuel.
The Coast Guard did not immediately respond to follow up questions about plans for the rescue helicopter moving forward.
Oregon coast residents are closely watching federal moves as plans emerge for a possible U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in the area. A federal contractor known for quickly establishing military housing recently called several hotels up and down the coast in search of up to 200 hotel rooms for a year. The federal contractor sought guest rooms available Dec. 15 through 2026, according to emails to hotels reviewed by The Oregonian/OregonLive.
Wyden hailed the return of the Coast Guard helicopter in an emailed statement.
“This is a big win to keep fishermen as well as Oregonians and tourists visiting the Newport area safe when they are enjoying the Pacific Ocean,” Wyden said. “I’ll keep watchdogging this Coast Guard commitment and battling against any move by the Trump administration to site an ICE detention facility in Newport or anywhere else on the Oregon Coast.”
— Maxine Bernstein contributed to this article
