Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield announced Friday that the state is filing a lawsuit to force the federal government to return a U.S. Coast Guard rescue helicopter to Newport. Lincoln County and the nonprofit Newport Fishermen’s Wives group filed a similar lawsuit.

The Coast Guard abruptly removed the helicopter on Oct. 30 from the Newport Air Facility without any public notice. More than a week later, city officials revealed they had received an inquiry from a federal contractor seeking to rent space. City, state and federal lawmakers worried the government could be trying to convert the air facility into a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center.

The relocation outraged community members as well as county and city officials who spoke up against the helicopter’s relocation at a recent community meeting.

“We are deeply concerned about the safety of our commercial fishing industry, especially with the opening of crab season scheduled for Dec. 16,” said Becca Bostwick-Terry, President of Newport Fishermen’s Wives. “Commercial fishing is one of the nation’s most dangerous occupations, and Oregon’s cold waters make rapid helicopter response a matter of life and death.”

The helicopter has been stationed at the Coast Guard base in North Bend, which is nearly 100 miles south of Newport and about a 30-minute flight.

“This helicopter isn’t a luxury—it’s a critical part of how we keep people alive on the Oregon Coast,” Rayfield said in a press statement. “The federal government didn’t just move a piece of machinery. They pulled away a safety net that this community depends on, and they did it in the dark of night with no transparency and no legal process.”

It remains unclear if the air facility where the helicopter previously resided will be used for an immigration facility. Concerns over that use began when a federal contractor filed a letter of intent with Newport officials. That was later retracted.

Newport nearly saw its Coast Guard facility close in 2014, which similarly would have relocated the rescue helicopter to North Bend, according to KLCC. A legal and activist effort at that time succeeded in keeping the facility open and the helicopter in place.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/11/21/lawsuits-newport-coast-guard-helicopter-oregon/