[Pollinator] Lawmakers reintroduce plan to save the bees

[David Inouye]

  Lawmakers reintroduce plan to save the bees

Jacob Wallace <https://www.eenews.net/staff/Jacob_Wallace>, E&E News 
reporterPublished: Friday, June 25, 2021

Bees. Photo credit: Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

House Democrats are leading new legislation to protect bees.Lisa Maree 
Williams/Getty Images

Democratic Reps. Earl Blumenauer of Oregon and Jim McGovern of 
Massachusetts yesterday reintroduced legislation to investigate the 
collapse of native pollinator populations, an effort that they hope will 
"save the bees."

Thebill 
<https://blumenauer.house.gov/sites/blumenauer.house.gov/files/BLUMEN_022_xml.pdf>, 
the "Saving America's Pollinators Act of 2021," would suspend the use of 
neonicotinoids pending further study. The chemicals are a commonly used 
pesticide that are also one of the top suspects in the widespread 
die-out of bees and other pollinators.

"Pollinators are the very definition of keystone species. They hold our 
food system — and entire ecosystems — together," McGovern said in a 
statement. "We can no longer afford to put the interests of pesticide 
manufacturers ahead of the safety of pollinators, people, and the planet."

Studies have shown that bee populations are declining everywhere: Up to 
a quarter of bee species haven't been recorded at all since 1990, 
according to one report (/Greenwire/ 
<https://www.eenews.net/stories/1063723303>, Jan. 22).

The Department of Agriculture has also noted that U.S. honeybees account 
for $700 million a year in products and services.

But the bill's authors say that U.S. beekeepers lost between 35% and 46% 
of their hives annually between 2012 and 2018, and populations have been 
slow to recover since.

To better understand their recovery, the proposed legislation would also 
implement a "state-of-the-art" monitoring network for native bees to 
track their populations.

"We must use every tool at our disposal to provide pollinators with 
much-needed relief from toxic pesticides and monitor their populations 
to ensure their health and survival," Blumenauer said.

The bill would also establish a Pollinator Protection Board, which would 
be staffed with scientists, beekeepers, farmers and conservationists who 
do not have ties to pesticide companies.

That board would ultimately be responsible for evaluating and approving 
the safety of pesticides.

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