By Representative David Gomberg, House District 10
11/25/25
Dear Friends and Neighbors,
As we prepare for the Thanksgiving I wanted to share some news most of you will be grateful to hear.
Lincoln County, the Newport Fisherman’s Wives, and Attorney General Dan Rayfiueld have filed lawsuits protesting the removal of Coast Guard air rescue operations from Newport. In an opinion issued Monday evening, U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken found that the sudden relocation of the helicopter last month could imperil lives as crabbing season gets underway, and that the Coast Guard had not provided legally required notice before moving the aircraft nearly 100 miles south to North Bend.
Translation: DHS violated the law in removing the helicopter and put lives at risk. You can read the order here.
The U.S. Coast Guard must immediately return a rescue helicopter to the city of Newport as a court case challenging the aircraft’s removal gets underway. The order remains in effect for 14 days, though Aiken will also consider a permanent injunction barring the removal of the helicopter. OPB and the Lincoln Chronicle reported the restraining order news on Monday evening.
The judge found that the Homeland Security secretary failed to provide any notification to Congress before closing or significantly reducing the use of the Coast Guard air facility. DHS Secretary Noem also failed to hold any public meetings or issue any notice to provide opportunity for the public to comment on the proposal, as required by law, Aiken found.
“The evidence before the Court at this juncture is that those procedures were not followed and the Court can discern no hardship to Defendants in an injunction requiring them to continue operating the Newport Air Facility as they have for the better part of four decades,” Aiken wrote. Read more in the Oregonian.
Between 2014 and 2025, the U.S. Coast Guard rescue helicopter based in Newport was responsible for the rescue of approximately 500 people, including 30 commercial fishermen whose lives were saved at sea, according to court records. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File)AP
The U.S. Coast Guard has stationed a rescue helicopter in Newport since 1987. The Coast Guard considered removing the aircraft in 2014, but ultimately backed off in the face of public outcry.
A law passed after that fight prohibits the Coast Guard from closing air bases unless it determines public safety won’t be impacted, and requires the agency to provide notice and accept public comment before making a change.
On Sunday, before the ruling was issued, a DHS spokesperson told KOIN 6 News, “These efforts to micromanage U.S. Coast Guard operations via lawsuit are completely intrusive, and they obstruct the work of the Service’s patriotic men and women. The Coast Guard is always ready to respond to search and rescue needs on the Oregon Coast, just as it always has been. Any suggestion otherwise is an insult to the hard, heroic work the men and women of the Coast Guard put in every day.”
I responded, Newport is a proud Coast Guard town. We support the brave men and women who have selflessly kept our coastline safe for decades. Our only goal is to make their work safer and more effective. If anyone is insulting the hard, heroic work of the Coast Guard, it is the current leadership at DHS that is using them as a pawn in a larger game. DHS seems more interested in belittling the Newport Fishermen’s Wives than they are in giving honest answers to fishing families and elected officials.
The temporary ruling is good news and a great relief to our coastal communities. Fisherman will be safer – at least temporarily. I look forward to the final decision in these lawsuits.
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