A scientist with her feet on the ground, two commercial beekeepers, and for the first time ... Colony Collapse Disorder has caused a reduction in food production.

Maryann Frazier is a Senior Extension Associate at Penn State specializing in apiculture, and has been for over 20 years. She has a list of credentials as long as your arm making her uniquely qualified to be part of the CCD working group. She knows her stuff. And she has a lot to say about what’s been going on, and what’s been found.

Right off, she took the Subcommittee to task for their lack of action in securing funds to study CCD...

"However, I believe the magnitude and timeliness of the response (of this subcommittee to the CCD problem) has not matched the scale and urgency needed to save an industry valued at more than $14 Billion."

She next asked them, “How would our government respond if one out of every three cows was dying?” ... then continued ... ”While this committee held its first timely hearing in March of 2007, the funding that has been allocated to date falls far short of the time sensitive and potentially catastrophic nature of this problem.” Go Maryann!

She then proposed five additional “Action Items” that could immediately move critical research forward and help beekeepers survive. They include...

1. Reducing the cost of pesticide analytical services provided by USDA AMS

2. Creating a new USDA critical issues program to develop alternative control methods for varroa mites

3. Providing additional funding aimed at understanding pollinator decline and improving pollinator health that includes native species of pollinators

4. Providing direct financial assistance to beekeepers suffering from high losses

5. Directing APHIS to immediately implement a national survey for honey bee diseases

• A recent survey from 11 states has revealed that IAPV (Israeli acute paralysis virus, a probable indicator, but not cause of CCD) is more widely distributed than previously observed

• Two long term studies following 260 colonies have collected nearly 4,000 samples to date to study, and to keep for additional analysis.

• The study looking at the role of pesticides in pollinator decline and CCD is ongoing in PA apple orchards; plus pesticide build-up in wax combs and foundation studies are still ongoing; lab bioassays on the synergistic effects of multiple pesticide residues and the potential impacts of pesticide adjuvants are under study, too.

Maryann then talked more about the pesticide studies....

“For example, pesticides at sublethal levels have been shown to impair the learning abilities of honey bees and to suppress their immune systems. For these reasons, we believe that pesticide exposure may be one of the factors contributing to pollinator decline and to CCD.” ...

Start with a pristine mountain lake in the Alaskan wilderness. Add toxic waste. Kill all the fish. Wipe the lake off the map.

Bad for that lake, yes. But is it pollution?

The seemingly obvious answer to that question (umm, yes?) is at the heart of a case the Supreme Court has agreed to hear this winter.

In this corner, weighing in at 140,000 ounces of gold per year, is the Kensington mine, owned by Coeur Alaska (and the state of Alaska, which approved its plans to spoil the lake). And in the other corner ...