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OSU's Hatfield Marine Science Center sits in a tsunami zone.

(Oregon State University)

Clarification appended

A prominent Oregon State University geologist described President Ed Ray's decision to build a $50 million building in a tsunami zone as risky, expensive and "completely inexplicable."

Chris Goldfinger, a professor in OSU's College of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, said Friday that he will continue to oppose Ray's decision to build the Marine Studies Initiative building in a tsunami-inundation zone near the mouth of Yaquina Bay.

The professor said Ray is going in the opposite direction of safety. "For the university administrator to essentially ignore all the science and double down on building in a tsunami zone is completely inexplicable to me," Goldfinger said.

Goldfinger, who directs OSU's Active Tectonics and Seafloor Mapping Laboratory and was featured prominently in the New Yorker's Pulitzer Prize-winning story about a Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake, said Ray's decision is "just the beginning."

"Not only as an earthquake geologist, but as a taxpayer and as an Oregonian, I think this is a matter for public debate," Goldfinger said. Last year, the Legislature approved $24.8 million in bonds for the project. OSU hopes to finish the building by early 2018. Earlier this year, Goldfinger and about two dozen faculty and staff signed a letter opposing the Newport site.

Ray issued a statement Thursday saying after months of looking at alternative properties away from the tsunami zone, he'd decided to build the 100,000-square-foot building on its Hatfield Marine Science Center campus in Newport.

The president believes OSU can build a structure that will withstand a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and serve as a safe place for the hundreds of students and staff who will be at the coastal research center. OSU also wanted to keep the students and faculty in one place, arguing that OSU students did not want to be separated from the campus, which sits at about 15 feet above sea level. By 2025, OSU hopes to have as many as 500 students study at the coastal hub annually, a significant increase from current levels.

But Goldfinger said the issue is not whether OSU can build a building that could potentially withstand a large quake. The question is why you would take that unnecessary risk at all.

"We accept that it's not impossible to build this building," Goldfinger said, "but the real issue is why would we want to present this risk to our students and their parents who trust us to do the right thing?"

"Why would we cross that line?"

Goldfinger said he's not aware of any students who "want to be on the frontline in a tsunami zone," adding that the main oceanographic institution in the state is in Corvallis, more than 50 miles from the coast.

Clarification: An earlier version of this story said that Goldringer and at least two dozen faculty members would continue to fight the decision to locate the building in the tsunami zone. Goldfinger does not speak for all of those faculty members who sent the earlier letter to Ray.

-- Andrew Theen

atheen@oregonian.com

503-294-4026

@andrewtheen