A few weeks ago, this blog told of the ongoing disagreement between top officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn.

NOAA has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on its 200-year anniversary celebration- NOAA Administrator Conrad C. Lautenbacher Jr. says the agency decided to "seize the occasion" of the milestone to let the public know just what NOAA does.

Coburn, who is both socially and fiscally conservative, wants to know why the agency felt such expenditures were necessary -- especially in light of post-Katrina weather-service needs and the fact that NOAA already spent a bunch of money celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2000.

Coburn seemed to be asking: how many parties does one agency need?  And, more specifically, how much is it all costing? (Coburn also, it should be noted, introduced an amendment to rein in NOAA's spending after a story in The Sun showed that the agency was spending several million dollars to plant oysters in the Chesapeake Bay-- most of which watermen were later able to harvest and sell.)

NOAA recently provided the Oklahoma doctor with some answers. First of all, it clarifies, the 30th anniversary celebration honored the official birth of NOAA, when Nixon merged several programs into the agency and put them all under the Department of Commerce. The Bi-centennial reaches back further to honor the first scientific survey, the Survey of the Coast, which Jefferson commissioned.

Another difference: the price tag. the 30th anniversary party cost $204,000: about 60 grand for a promotional video, the rest for "outreach" and printed materials.

The bi-centennial will cost at least $1.6 million. That kind of cash buys a web site (25K), educational materials (640K), exhibit materials (268K) and public outreach and education events (625K-and not to be confused with educational "materials.")

"Outreach events" include an art contest in Colorado, a beach party in Hawaii, and a festival in Michigan. There are also conferences in California and a museum event in Massachusetts; it seems wherever you are this year, you won't be far from a NOAA bicentennial party. Oddly, or perhaps not so oddly, there are no events on the schedule for Oklahoma.

I'm sure some of the John Smith Trail boosters are wondering-How many talking buoys for the trail could we buy with that sort of cash? And perhaps those hurricane forecasters in Louisiana are wondering how much new equipment they could buy? Oh well, there's always the consolation prize: maybe they could get whatever wins that Colorado art contest to hang in their offices.