Environmentalists sued the Fish and Wildlife Service on Tuesday over a delay in deciding whether four bee species will get Endangered Species Act protections.
Citing what they called a series of badly missed statutory deadlines, the Center for Biological Diversity sued in a bid to compel ESA determinations for American bumblebees, Southern Plains bumblebees, variable cuckoo bumblebees and blue calamintha bees.
“America’s bumblebees are in deep trouble, and it’s critical for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to stop their plunge toward extinction,” CBD scientist Jess Tyler said in a statement.
Tyler, who earlier authored listing petitions submitted to the FWS on behalf of the species, added that “the decline of native bees across the U.S. is a preventable tragedy. We still have time to save these life-bringing pollinators.”
