Maine will get its share of federal dollars from a $514 billion spending package passed by Congress this week – including $423,000 for a statewide methamphetamine project and $195,000 for a metalworking program at Central Maine Community College.

Maine’s U.S. representatives are happy to talk about those.

But the several hundred requests that didn’t make the appropriations budget, those are a different matter.

“We don’t provide lists of requests that are not ultimately approved, because that would put the people asking at a disadvantage,” said Mark Sullivan, communications director for Rep. Tom Allen, D-Maine.

Both of Maine’s U.S. representatives declined to list the funding requests they made that didn’t make it through to the final spending package.

Maine’s Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins were more than happy to make their lists of requests public, however.

The senators filed their earmarks with the Appropriations Committee together, and staffers at both their offices provided the Sun Journal with spreadsheets detailing their requests.

The spreadsheet lists 194 requests totaling $337.6 million. It includes requests for a wind turbine project at the University of Maine, Presque Isle, land acquisitions for the Bureau of Parks at Grafton Notch and an economic development project at the Maine Centers for Women, Work and Community.

The entire list is available via a download on the Sun Journal’s Web site: www.sunjournal.com

“It’s all about the transparency of government for Sen. Collins,” said her spokeswoman, Jen Burita. “We’re proud of the things on our list. We think that if you look at them, you’ll see there’s not a bit of wasteful spending there.”

But those requests, known as earmarks, have come to symbolize wasteful spending and pork barrel politics.

“Sen. Collins is happy with her record on making earmarks transparent,” Burita said. Collins helped author rules requiring legislators to attach their names to funding requests.

“So the days of slipping a funding request into a budget anonymously are gone,” she said.

In a written statement, Snowe said voters should expect openness and accountability from legislators.

“Funding requests should be done in the public light so that the American people have the opportunity to review what we’re asking for and why we’re asking for it,” she said.

Rep. Allen passed through about 125 requests for funding to the House Appropriations Committee, hoping to have them included in the federal fiscal year 2008 budget, according to Sullivan

Eight of those requests were successful. Allen was able to secure $375,000 to redesign Interstate 295’s Exit 4 in South Portland, $350,000 for the Florence House homeless shelter in Portland and $1.25 million to help develop a ship-navigation system in Brunswick.

“This is not the case where something has been slipped in without any kind of daylight,” Sullivan said. “But these groups are still seeking money for their projects, and it might make it more difficult to non-congressional aid if it’s known that they failed here.”

Rep. Mike Michaud, D-Maine, passed along as many as 500 funding requests. That turned into money for L-A College, St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center and the University of Maine.

“We get a lot of requests, like every other office in Congress,” said Monica Castellanos, Michaud’s press secretary. “And like most offices, we do not share those requests that were not successful.”

Rep. Michaud, in another written statement, said he forwards all funding requests to the Appropriations Committee.

“The final results of these local requests and whether or not they are funded is dependent on the appropriations subcommittee of jurisdiction reviewing the request,” Michaud wrote. It’s important to pass those along to make sure Maine’s financial interests are represented.

“Since federal funding is scarce, it’s important to explore all avenues for funding on the local, state and federal level,” Michaud wrote.

The fiscal year 2008 spending bill includes 8,983 earmarks for $7.4 billion. That does not include $7.8 billion in defense spending, which was passed earlier this year.