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<DIV><FONT size=3><STRONG>Correction - this was sent to the LISTSERV from Chip
Taylor - thanks, Chip!</STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>In a message dated 2/10/2014 4:55:44 P.M. Pacific Standard Time,
jt@pollinator.org writes:</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000 size=2>
<DIV class=WordSection1>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'">Thanks
to Laurie Davies Adams of the Pollinator Partnership for forwarding the
below:</SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">E&E
News:<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">AGRICULTURE:<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Bees get short shrift
in farm bill<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Amanda Peterka,
E&E reporter<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Published: Wednesday,
February 5, 2014<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Count bees among the
losers in the long farm bill debate.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">A short provision that
would have compelled the government to address declining pollinator
populations is not in the final bill that President Obama is expected to sign
into law Friday.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">The proposal from
Democratic Reps. Alcee Hastings of Florida and Marcy Kaptur of Ohio would have
improved coordination among federal agencies in addressing the decline of both
managed and wild pollinator populations. It also would have required the
government to regularly report on the health of bees, birds, bats and other
insects.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Over the last few
months, bee advocates had urged Congress to include the provision. Pollinators
contribute between $20 billion and $30 billion a year to the nation's
agricultural production by pollinating fruits and specialty crops like
almonds, according to the advocates.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">But in recent years,
pollinator populations have fallen dramatically. According to the U.S.
Agriculture Department, more than 30 percent of managed honeybee colonies, for
example, were lost in the United States during the winter of
2012-13.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">"I'm terribly
disappointed that the limited language that I requested was stripped from the
bill. And I don't like that," Hastings said. "I don't think I was asking for
anything of major consequence, and I was trying to dramatize, and will
continue to do so, that this nation -- indeed, this world -- has a pollinator
problem."<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">The Hastings-Kaptur
proposal easily passed the House in a 273-149 vote last summer. Nearly 60
organizations, including the Center for Food Safety, the Sierra Club, the
Natural Resources Defense Council, Pesticide Action Network North America and
the Xerces Society had supported its inclusion in the final farm bill (<A title=http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2014/02/05/stories/www.eenews.net/eenewspm/stories/1059989305/ href="http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2014/02/05/stories/www.eenews.net/eenewspm/stories/1059989305/">E&ENews
PM</A>, Oct. 23, 2013).<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">During the Senate
floor debate, Senate Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Barbara Boxer
(D-Calif.) offered an amendment nearly identical to the measure, but it was
not brought up for a vote.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Advocates blasted its
exclusion from the final bill.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">"Directing our
government to thoroughly assess and monitor pollinator declines should have
been an easy decision," the Center for Food Safety said in a
statement.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">House and Senate
agriculture leaders have touted the farm bill as a compromise but have
acknowledged that not everybody is happy with the final
product.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">"I think that's an
issue that is a legitimate concern. I think that's an issue that has to be
addressed," House Agriculture Chairman Frank Lucas (R-Okla.) said of the
pollinator measure's exclusion. "I believe, with all fairness, that it has not
received quite as much attention in some quadrants as perhaps the citrus
issues that we do take care of in the bill."<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">The final farm bill
does direct USDA to encourage farmers to protect pollinator habitat as part of
voluntary conservation plans.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Hastings, who hails
from farm territory in Florida, said he would continue to push for
congressional action to address declining pollinator populations and hoped to
have an "ample discussion" with House Agriculture Committee
leaders.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">"How I'm fond of
putting it is: If you don't have no bees, we ain't going to have no food," he
said.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Laurie
Davies Adams<BR>Executive Director<BR>Pollinator Partnership<BR>423 Washington
St. 5th Fl.<BR>San Francisco, CA 94111<BR>T: 415.362.1137<BR>F:
415.362.0176<BR><IMG SRC="cid:X.MA1.1392080374@aol.com" height=173 width=319 border=0 DATASIZE="15216" ID="MA1.1392080374" ><BR>Follow up on <A title=http://twitter.com/#!/Pollinators href="http://twitter.com/#!/Pollinators">Twitter</A> and <A title=http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Pollinator-Partnership/48680445464 href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Pollinator-Partnership/48680445464">Facebook</A>!</SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV></DIV><BR><BR>_______________________________________________<BR>Pollinator
mailing
list<BR>Pollinator@lists.sonic.net<BR>https://lists.sonic.net/mailman/listinfo/pollinator<BR></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV></FONT></DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>