NEWPORT – Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo was back in her home state Monday to celebrate the groundbreaking for the new headquarters of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Atlantic Ocean research fleet .

Raimondo, former governor of Rhode Island, joined her successor, Dan McKee, and the state’s congressional delegation Monday morning at Naval Station Newport, where workers are already building the $147-million operations center that will support climate research, fisheries surveys, nautical charting and other work to better understand the ocean environment.

The bulk of the funding for the project is coming from the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act , which was largely aimed at addressing the impacts of climate change.

“Here in the Ocean State, climate change is real,” Raimondo said. “We know the risks – but also the opportunities – that come with living and working along the coast.”

NOAA is moving center to Newport from Virginia

She spoke as construction crews in the background drove piles for the pier that will become the homeport for four NOAA research ships. The facility, which is expected to be completed in 2027, will also include a floating dock for smaller vessels, repair space and a building for shoreside support and storage. About 150 NOAA personnel will be based at the center.

NOAA, which is part of the Department of Commerce, is moving its Atlantic operations center from Norfolk, Virginia, to Newport. It will be one of two main operations centers for NOAA’s fleet of 15 research and survey vessels. The other one, serving the Pacific Ocean, is in Newport, Oregon.

Rear Admiral Nancy Hann, director of NOAA’s marine and aviation operations, said the Newport site was chosen in part for its proximity to facilities operated by the U.S. Navy and the Coast Guard, which work closely with her agency.

She said that future projections of sea level rise and other climate impacts also factored into the decision.

“We need a climate-resilient facility,” Hann said. “We need to know that if we’re making this investment, we can use it for decades to come.”

NOAA has been expanding its presence in Rhode Island in recent years

NOAA has gradually been expanding its presence in the City by the Sea during the past decade. In 2016, Newport became homeport for the Henry B. Bigelow, a 209-foot-long fisheries research ship. It was later joined by the Okeanos Explorer, a 224-foot-long ship that specializes in exploration of the deep ocean.

The Thomas Jefferson, a 208-foot-long survey ship, is set to also come to Newport, as is the Discoverer, a 244-foot-long research vessel under construction in Louisiana.

Raimondo and others at the ceremony credited U.S. Sen. Jack Reed for working to secure NOAA’s commitment to Newport.

Reed said that locating the NOAA center in Newport makes sense because it’s also close to academic institutions, including Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and the Graduate School of Oceanography at the University of Rhode Island.

“We’re at the intersection of all of the blue economy and blue research – I think not just on the East Coast but everywhere,” Reed said.

Green building designs to be used for new facility

Hann said that NOAA is employing climate-friendly practices at the new facility. The operations building was designed to minimize its carbon footprint and will be certified by LEED, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, which oversees the most common rating system in the United States for green construction. It will include energy-efficient mechanical systems and will maximize the use of natural light, she said.

In addition, the Discoverer will have lower emissions than comparable vessels by employing a hybrid propulsion system that combines diesel engines with battery storage, she said.

NOAA’s research is used in everything from weather forecasting to fisheries management. Hann said that it’s also important to national security.

She pointed to the agency’s work after a container ship struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore in March and caused it to collapse. She said that NOAA mapped an alternative shipping channel under the bridge so the Port of Baltimore could reopen.

None of NOAA’s vessels were in port for Monday’s ceremony.

“You’ll have to imagine our ships here, because they’re all out working,” Hann said.