The Buzz: EU Steps up on Bee Protection
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outweigh the probative value. Id. But if a bench trial were
selected, the court could entertain without difficulty continu-
ous testimony from the same witnesses as to both liability, as
well as penaty/remedy aspects. Id. at *7-*8. The court also
could conditionally accept evidence that is objected to, subject
to a subsequent ruling on its admissibility and weight, and the
parties could present post-trial briefs both on liability and on
penalty and relief.
As the Esso court's plea makes clear, the challenges of pars-
ing through issues and weighing evidence in environmental
cases may be a task better left to the bench alone. Because
no one approach fits under all environmental statutes, the
litigation realities of jury trials and the risks related to juror
determinations of technical issues-and not the rights under
the Seventh Amendment-often explain why parties move
forward with bench trials in statutory environmental cases.
Mr. Henderson is a partner and Mr. Wong is an associate at Troutman
Sanders LLP in Atlanta, Georgia. They may be reached at douglas.
henderson@troutmansanders.com and justin.wong@troutmansanders.com.
The Buzz: EU Steps Up on
Bee Protection
Madeline June Kass
he United States, long a leader in environmental
protection, appears to be entering a period of
retrenchment and retraction from adoption and
enforcement of laws aimed at protecting human
health and the environment. As the United States stands
down, the European Union (EU) appears poised, if not already
positioned, to stand in as a global environmental Leader. A
comparison of U.S. and EU efforts to address global declines in
bees reflects this shift in global environmental leadership.
Starting decades earlier, but blossoming during the U.S.
environmental movement of the 1970s, the United States
pioneered some of the most important innovations in envi-
ronmental law-the creation of national parks, environmental
impact statement requirements, freedom of information and
right-to-know legislation . . .. Robert V. Percival, Environ-
mental Law in the Twenty-First Century, 25 Va. Envtt. L.J. 1, 19
(2007). More recently, however, it can be argued that the EU
has overtaken the United States as the world's torchbearer of
environmental protection. As one scholar explains:
From a purely regulatory perspective, the U.S. has argu-
ably reduced its international environmental Leadership
footprint in response to domestic politics that often see
environmental and economic interests as opposing
forces, even placing itself at a strategic disadvantage
sometimes. In contrast, the EU has used its vast regu-
latory power over the Common Market to drive its
economies to progressively incorporate environmental
concerns as root considerations in commercial policies.
52
Michael L. Buenger, The EU'S ETS and Global Aviation: Why
Local Rules Still Matter and May Matter Even More in the
Future, 41 Denv. J. Int'l L. & Pot'y 417, 431 (2013). Thus, in a
reversal of rotes, today the EU often innovates environmental
safeguards and the United States follows.
The bee's knees. Let's start with a few bee fun facts. There
are over 20,000 bee species globally-including more than
4,000 U.S. native species and over 1,800 EU native species.
Bees come in an assortment of colors, beyond basic yellow and
black (including a stunning metallic green and a deep royal
blue); many live solitary existences below ground in burrows
dug in soil, hoes in wood, old beetle hoes and even hollowed-
out grass stems; they can be bumblebee big, pea-sized, or as
small as a grain of rice; and most do not sting people. Brandon
Keim, Beyond Black and Yellow: The Stunning Colors of Ameri-
ca's Native Bees, WIRED (Aug. 12, 2013). Beyond the familiar
honey and bumble bee varieties, curiosities exist such as the
snubbed snouted wild sweet potato bee, the dirt excavating
sunflower teafcutting bee, the rugged arctic bumble bee,
human perspiration seeking sweat bees, and even parasitic
nest invading cuckoo bees. See Ketsey Kopec, Center for Bio-
logicat Diversity, Pollinators in Peril: A Systematic Status Review
of North American and Hawaiian Native Bees, 6-9 (2017) (Pot-
linators in Peril).
These magnificent tiny creatures contribute well beyond
their weight-class to biodiversity (especially plant diversity)
and ecosystem functioning, beautifying our natural environ-
ment and feeding humankind. Bees pollinate. Globally, bees
play a Lion's share rote in both wild plant pollination (almost
90 percent of wild plants depend on some form of insect pot-
lination) and food crop pollination (contributing to as much
as one of every three bites of food). Pollinators in Peril at 2.
Not surprisingly then, the U.S. government has concluded,
[p]ollinators-including honey bees, other managed bees, and
wild, native bees-are critical to our nation's economy, food
security, and environmental health. U.S. Gov't Accountabil-
ity Office, GAO-16-220, Bee Health: USDA and EPA Should
Take Additional Actions to Address Threats to Bee Populations 7
(Feb. 10, 2016) (GAO: Threats to Bee Populations). Simi-
lary, the EU European Commission has concluded: Bees are
critically important for the environment and to the [EU] econ-
omy. European Commission, Honey Bees, https://ec.europa.eu/
food/animals/live-animals/beesen. Translated into dollars, the
pollination services delivered by bees are valued around $23.5
billion a year in Europe and roughly $18 billion per year in
the United States-yes, that's billions with nine zeroes. See
IUCN, European Red List of Bees §1.4 (2014) (European Red
List of Bees); Hillary Rosner, Return of the Natives: How Wild
Bees Will Save Our Agriculture System, 309 Sci. Am. 3 (Sept.
2013). So, when you hear the buzz, don't just think honey.
Think fruits and vegetables, nuts, and a quarter million dif-
ferent plants. See Beatriz Moisset & Stephen Buchmann, Bee
Basics: An Introduction to Our Native Bees (2011 USDA Forest
Service).
The buzzkill. And now for the not-so-fun facts. Bees
are in serious decline globally. In the United States, among
native bees for which there is sufficient data for assessment,
more than half are declining, and almost a quarter are imper-
iled. Pollinators in Peril at 5. In addition, the U.S. Pollinator
Health Task Force found non-native honey bees have been
in serious decline for more than three decades in the United
States, and noted correlated increases in beekeeper costs to
NR&E Summer 2017
Published in Natural Resources & Environment Volume 32, Number 1, Summer 2017. © 2017 by the American Bar Association. Reproduced with permission. All rights reserved. This information or any portion thereof
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