PORTLAND (AP) - With Newport falling out of the picture, a shipbreaking firm is eyeing the Portland area as the place it will dismantle and scrap a federal fleet now at anchor near San Francisco.

Bay Bridge Enterprises has scouted a former mill at the Willamette River town of Linnton, a former ship repair site below the St. Johns Bridge and two sites in Vancouver, Wash., according to documents obtained by The Oregonian newspaper.

The sites are mentioned in e-mails and other documents from the Oregon Economic and Community Development Department, and were released after the newspaper filed a state public records request.

Harsh V. Mishra, an official with Bay Bridge's parent company, Adani Group, told the newspaper that his firm is intent on shipbreaking on the West Coast and the Portland area is the likely candidate.

Bay Bridge, which is based in Virginia, specializes in scrapping ships held in the U.S. government's National Defense Reserve Fleet of aging naval and merchant vessels. The pieces are sold on the international scrap metal market.

A portion of the fleet is in Suisun Bay near San Francisco, but California's real estate prices and environmental laws make it too expensive to scrap ships there.

The Port of Newport announced Tuesday that costs for preparing the Port's site in Yaquina Bay were too much for Bay Bridge. The company also faced opposition from people with environmental concerns.

Mike Dunavant, president of Bay Bridge, said he thought he may be able to announce a new site for shipbreaking operations in 10 days.

A spokeswoman for the Portland Development Commission confirmed that economic development officials with the commission had been talking with Bay Bridge, but declined further comment.