The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is a multi-faceted agency of the United States government that concerns itself with a variety of challenges, from making five-day weather forecasts to protecting sea turtles. Under the U.S. Department of Commerce, NOAA is unusual because it functions not only as a service agency, providing weather reports, for example, but also as a regulatory and research agency. Many of its regulatory functions appear to overlap with those of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and much of its research parallels that of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). NOAA's National Ocean Service, for example, assessed the damage to the Alaskan coast and wildlife from the disastrous oil spill of the Exxon Valdez; NOAA also monitors the rate and speed of the earth's rotation.

Created in 1807 by President Thomas Jefferson as the National Ocean...