Don't Let Bay Area Power Companies Poison the Metalmark Butterfly!
If new power plants are allowed to proliferate in California's Bay Area, the fragile and lovely Lange's metalmark butterfly will soon be something you can see only in a museum.
On the endangered species list since 1976, the Lange's metalmark feeds almost exclusively on a dune grass called the naked-stemmed buckwheat. But that fragile food source is being suffocated by weeds. These invasive weeds are getting an evolutionary leg up from nitrogen pollution--which comes from the area's power plants.
Despite the fact that nitrogen pollution is not good for people, dune grasses, or butterflies, three new plants are scheduled for construction within the Lange's metalmark's range.
Tell the California EPA to protect the Lange's metalmark by imposing strict regulations on nitrogen pollution.
We the undersigned demand that you do a better job of protecting both the Lange's metalmark butterfly and the naked-stemmed buckwheat on which it feeds. Nitrogen pollution which can be sourced directly to power plants has brought both species to the edge of extinction. You need to enforce clean air standards, require power plants to lower their nitrogen emissions, and hold industries that have starved the metalmark responsible for its survival. Make the CEOs get in the dunes and pull invasive weeds and replant the naked-stemmed buckwheat themselves, if you have to.
