Officials with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Navy yesterday broke ground on NOAA's $250 million Pacific Regional Center and downplayed concerns raised about its location at Pearl Harbor's Ford Island.

NOAA Administrator Conrad Lautenbacher, a retired Navy vice admiral once stationed in Hawai'i, said more than one dozen of its agencies and offices housing more than 500 staff members are now scattered throughout O'ahu, from Hawai'i Kai to 'Ewa Beach. They will be consolidated into one general area once the 30-acre center is completed in about 2010.

When he first became NOAA administrator five years ago, Lautenbacher said he toured the offices and "found a situation ... of inadequate facilities that are not supportive of the kind of mission that we have."

Noting that some operate out of trailers, he added, "They're spread all over the place in bits and pieces all over the Island. I think that the country and Hawai'i need better."

Lautenbacher said that NOAA sought an oceanfront site to accommodate its three research vessels now docked at Snug Harbor near Sand Island.

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group, has voiced objections to the site and the fast-tracking of the project. Some of NOAA's own employees, including those at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in 'Ewa Beach, also raised concerns. Among the worries is that the site is less than 10 feet above sea level and may be vulnerable during a tsunami.

A report issued last Friday by NOAA's Center for Tsunami Research, however, concluded that the risk of a destructive tsunami inundating the area is small. PEER executive director Jeff Ruch disputed the report's results.

Lautenbacher said he was satisfied with the report.

Charles "Chip" McCreery, director of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, said the location within Pearl Harbor is somewhat insulated from tsunamis because there is a reef structure off the southern shore of O'ahu and the narrowness of the channels leading into the harbor.

"Those things give some additional protection over an open coast that's near a source for tsunamis," he said, pointing out that the five biggest tsunamis to hit Hawai'i in the past century resulted in waves at Ford Island of no larger than 1.5 feet.

Lautenbacher addressed other concerns raised by the advocacy group, stating that an environmental impact statement completed by the Navy found no significant contaminant on the site.

Rear Adm. Townsend "Tim" Alexander, commander of Navy Region Hawai'i, praised U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, D-Hawai'i, for proposing the centralization of all NOAA operations. The facility is one of several non-Navy projects included in a master plan for redevelopment of Ford Island that will be implemented through 2011. Ford Island will also be home to the Pacific Aviation Museum.

Local NOAA public information officer Delores Clark said the Navy is providing the site free of charge and that development of the Pacific Regional Center will not require adding water or sewer lines.

Reach Gordon Y.K. Pang at gpang@honoluluadvertiser.com.