Tim,

Would it not be worth the efforts to contact others with vested interest
such as county extension offices and even bee lab folks in the country. If
you could find an advocate that was being paid by someone else to accomplish
the same goals you could skip the out of pocket part.  In that case, they
coudl reach a compromise and not go the legal way.

Are they even aware of the federal laws on the books?  Quite often they
think nothing exists, they dont mean to violate anything but just dont have
enough interest to dig deep.

You could also draft a press release. Newspapers love them. free news.  The
more notice you draw the better especially when all seems lost at the git
go, you truly have nothing to lose.