NEWPORT (AP) — The ports of Astoria and Newport are in the running to become the new home of a federal agency’s Pacific fleet.

In January, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration asked officials with the two ports to fill out a questionnaire about their facilities. After the questionnaire were completed, NOAA paid a visit.

“We were with them two or three hours, walking around the site and showing them the Port of Astoria in a blinding rainstorm,” Ron Larsen, acting general manager of the Port of Astoria, told The Oregonian newspaper.

“It’s exciting. A lot of things that would have to be changed here at the Port, but we would certainly want to do everything to make it a good venture for them and for us.”

The agency conducts research and gathers data about the oceans and atmosphere. The home port for four of its 10-vessel Pacific fleet is Seattle.

The lease there doesn’t expire until 2011, but NOAA wants to have its next home port chosen by this time next year, said agency spokeswoman Jeanne Kouhestani.

She said the 11 sites under consideration will be evaluated on a variety of factors, such as proximity to research areas and access to a skilled labor force.

The four ships have crews totaling 115 and an administrative staff of 80. Don Mann, general manager of the Port of Newport, said the economic development return could be “tremendous,” but cautioned that there is a lot of competition from Puget Sound.

Alan Brown, a former state representative for Newport and a former Port commissioner, was more pessimistic, saying there’s little chance of NOAA moving the fleet here.

“There is a political side that comes in, and the congressmen and senators up in Washington have a lot of political clout,” he said.