Live Virtual Screening Event of THE WILD Highlights the Plight of the Last Wild Salmon Run in the World, How it Could Disappear FOREVER and How You Can Help

SEATTLE, Aug. 3, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers just released its Environmental Impact Statement on what would be North America's largest open-pit copper and gold mine. Pebble Mine would be located at the headwaters of the pristine Bristol Bay, Alaska, and it threatens a 4,000-year-old way of life, a consistent job for more than 14,000 people and a sustainable food source for nearly half of the globe. On Thursday, Aug. 6 at 8 p.m. EST/5 p.m. PST, Eva's Wild and Area 23a Films fight back via a live virtual screening event of the award-winning documentary THE WILD, followed by interactive discussions to "save what you love."

THE WILD, the latest passion project by acclaimed film director Mark Titus, deals directly with the Pebble Mine proposition and how the last fully intact wild salmon run in the world hangs in the balance. The screening of this film will be followed by a live Q&A with Titus, luminaries from the film including, Alannah Hurley, Executive Director of United Tribes of Bristol Bay; CEO of National Wildlife Federation, Collin O'Mara; James Beard Award winning chef, Renee Erickson and Patagonia fly-fishing ambassador, April Vokey.

This online gathering serves as an urgent call to action for individuals, organizations and communities to urge the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to veto the permitting of the Pebble Mine project, the waste of which could contaminate critical waters that feed this ecosystem, and ruin this fully sustainable food source and economy forever.

"As a fisherman who has witnessed numerous other salmon runs around the world wither away, Bristol Bay is our last chance to get it right," said Titus. "We need to save it for the Indigenous people who have relied on wild salmon for 4,000+ years and for every American who benefits from it. We have to save what we love, together."

The virtual event will provide education and further elevate the voices across the U.S. and Canada who oppose Pebble Mine, which include some of the largest financial, environmental and outdoor sporting groups in North America, such as Orvis, Tiffany & Co., The Natural Resource Defense Council, National Wildlife Federation, Alaska Wilderness League and Trout Unlimited. Opposers have responded to the recent EIS with such comments as:

• "Still too risky"
• "Bristol Bay would become a desolate place without salmon…"
• "Salmon don't just nourish the people; they nourish the land…"
• "Toxic waste dump…"

In response to the recent EIS, Bristol Bay's commercial fishing industry, tribes and others have called on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to use its authority under the Clean Water Act to veto the Pebble Mine. Their request echoes the directive that Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Congress included in the 2020 budget bill, which told the EPA to use its "enforcement authority under the clean water act at an appropriate time in the permitting process to ensure the full protection of the region."

The seesaw legal battle between Pebble Mine and opposition groups spans over two decades, and the apex of this battle is expected to emerge with a decision by Aug. 30 – less than four weeks away.

"We are at the 11th hour, but there is still time," said Titus.

Additional facts:

• Pebble Mine threatens the $1.8 BILLION fishing industry, 14,000 American jobs and 46% of the world's supply of sockeye salmon.
• This is America's food security – Bristol Bay's sustainable salmon fishery is an inexhaustible supply of wild food that makes itself.
• The U.S. EPA estimates the mine could grow to be nearly as deep as the Grand Canyon, cover an area larger than Manhattan and fill a major football stadium up to 3,900 times with mine waste.
• This proposed low-grade sulfur mine would be located upstream of Bristol Bay's two most productive river systems.
• The location is in a seismically active region, where ground shifting could contribute to the risk of a massive tailings-dam breach.
• Indigenous people and others stand to lose a millennia-old culture and an organic food supply that could last forever if undisturbed.
• In June, Morgan Stanley was the sixth major investor to announce its divestment from Pebble Mine's parent company.
• Former Rio Tinto environment and permitting chief Richard Borden estimated the proposed Pebble Mine project would lose $3 billion and is almost certainly financially infeasible.
• A federal judge recently overruled a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-issued permit at Standing Rock, which sets precedent. Sources have shared the White House may look again at the support it has been giving the Pebble Mine.

Join the fight. Save what you love. Go to: http://www.evaswild.com. Follow @thewildfilm

25% of ticket sales from Aug. 6 goes to the coalition working to save Bristol Bay.

Ticket price is valued at $12 but will be sold on a sliding scale so anyone may attend the event.
Eva's Wild is an impact brand curating authentic storytelling that reveres the wild in ourselves and on our planet.

Contact info: Robb Yagmin | http://www.evaswild.com | [email protected] 913.908.0028

SOURCE evaswild.com