What is it? Mysterious Orange Goo Washes Up, Baffles Alaska Village
- Posted on August 6, 2011 at 10:50am by
Madeleine Morgenstern
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The mysterious orange substance washed ashore in the village of Kivalina, Alaska. (AP Photo)
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Leona Baldwin’s husband saw it first, and she got on the marine radio to alert others in the remote Alaska village of Kivalina that a strange orange goo was sitting on top of the town’s harbor.
The news attracted all the townspeople, anxious to get a gander of the phenomenon that covered much of the harbor and then began washing ashore Wednesday.
The next day it rained, and residents found the orange matter floating on top of the rain buckets they use to collect drinking water. It was also found on one roof, leading them to believe whatever it was, it was airborne, too.
By Friday, the orange substance in the lagoon had dissipated or washed out to sea, and what was left on ground had dried to a powdery substance.
A sample of orange goo in Anchorage, Alaska, collected Aug. 3, 2011, in Kivalina, Alaska, after the substance came in from the river into the village's harbor. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)
Samples of the orange matter were collected in canning jars and sent to a lab in Anchorage for analysis.
Until results are known, Kivalina’s 374 residents will likely continue to wonder just what exactly happened in their village.
“Certainly at this point it’s a mystery,” said Emanuel Hignutt, a chemist with the state Department of Environmental Conservation lab in Anchorage.
Kivalina, an Inupiat Eskimo village, is located at the tip of an 8-mile barrier reef on Alaska’s northwest coast, and is located between the Chukchi Sea and Kivalina River to the north and the Wulik River to the south.
Villagers have never seen anything like this before, and elders have never heard any stories passed down from earlier generations about an orange-colored substance coming into town.
“This is the first for Kivalina, as far as I know,” said 63-year-old Austin Swan, a city council member.
Portions of the samples will also be sent to the University of Alaska Fairbanks and to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration lab in South Carolina for testing.
“There‘s a number of experts in the areas who can identify if it’s an organic material, for example, and what species this is, or perhaps it’s not an organic material, and we’re going to determine that, as well,” Hignutt said.
The Coast Guard already has ruled out that the orange material, which some people described as having a semi-solid feel to it, was man-made or a petroleum product.
That leaves algae as the best guess, said village administrator Janet Mitchell.
The concern is if it’s somehow harmful. What will it do to fish, which villagers will soon start catching to stock up for winter, or the caribou currently being hunted, or the berries?
“We rely 100 percent on subsistence,” she said.
Swan helped collect some samples for testing, and waded out into the lagoon. He grabbed some of the substance in his gloved hand.
“It was really light, a powdery look to it, and it was just floating on there, all bunched up together,” he said. “It looked like it could blow away very easily.”
He said some of the material had a sheen to it, like it was oil.
“But I couldn’t feel the oil at all, any texture at all.”
When the material bunched up in the lagoon, it created 10 foot-by-100 foot swaths of glimmering orange.
“When the wind came in, it narrowed them to a few feet wide. The color was a bright neon orange,” said Frances Douglas, a member of the city council.
“It pretty much covered the south end of the lagoon in streaks,” she said of the attraction, which drew many residents.
“Pretty much, everybody was baffled,” she said.
City personnel went to a pump house two miles away on the Wulik River, and found the material there, too. The village is also about 40 miles from the Red Dog zinc mine, but officials there assured the village the substance didn’t come from them.
Since the substance was unknown, city officials cautioned residents to keep children away from the orange goo and for residents to boil their water before drinking it.
But Mitchell said water is another concern since they don‘t have much reserve in the city’s two water tanks.
The tanks need to be filled this summer from the Wulik River to make it through the winter, but the city had to stop pumping last month before the goo showed up because of rain disturbances. And they may not be able to resume pumping until they find out what the substance is.
“Right now, we’re going to have to go on water conservation, use it for consumption and try not to use it for washing,” she said. “That’s going to be difficult.”
Kivalina wasn’t alone in reporting the strange orange substance last Wednesday.
Shannon Melton said she was boating on the Buckland River about 150 miles southeast of Kivalina, and the river was not its normal color. “It was orange looking,” she said.
She took the boat out again on Thursday to go berry picking, and said the river had returned to its normal color, but some of the creeks off the river still had the orange tinge to them.
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Comments (92)
olddog
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 12:23pmIt looks like an agent used to break up spilled oil but why is it still around..
Report Post »starman70
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 12:18pmSomebody condensed all the BULL*** from the Speeches of Obama, Polosi, Reid, Baawney Frank, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and the rest of the DUMMYCRATIC spinmeisters. They then mixed it with Al Gore’s Global warming BULLS*** and not knowing what to do with all that refuse, they loaded it onto planes and dumped it over the North Pacific hoping the people of Alaska would think it was MANNA FROM HEAVEN.
Report Post »loadingmyclips
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 10:17pmdon.t worry boys it was just a bag of shredded cheese from TacoBell!
Report Post »tower7femacamp
Posted on August 7, 2011 at 8:16amyellow cake from Japans Nuclear reactors ?
Report Post »tower7femacamp
Posted on August 7, 2011 at 8:17amtest it for radiation
Report Post »FuturePresident
Posted on August 8, 2011 at 12:45amNaw that aint yellow cake. That’s something biological. Sounds like a spore of some kind, i would doubt it is algae.
Report Post »fragglerk
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 12:15pmIt’s George W. Bush’s fault. That‘s what we’ll learn from the left. Maybe one of Al Gore‘s SUV’s melted from the global warming of Alaska.
Report Post »IlovemyAkita
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 1:18pmEverything that has happened since say 1950…it’s all George W. Bush’s fault. :-)
Report Post »I miss George Dubya!
Caniac Steve
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 4:13pmno it was those greedy folks who used to be with the “appolo alliance” who had direct connetions to the now defuct Chicago climate exchange where Soros and frineds were “banking” on maing trillions on carbon creduts that never materialized and this is their revenge !!! Maybe ?? Gee wghere’s jesse Ventura when you need a good conspiracy theory ??
Report Post »ying
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 12:14pmOrange colored corals thrive in areas that have no direct sunlight. This is what many of the soft bodied polyp ones look like when taken out of the water. If these are corals, then they evidentally were disturbed by something that may have crashed into their cave or rocks.
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 1:00pmI have heard of some kinds of ocean alge-like forms that live in the deep arctic and antarctic oceans; while this is most likely the corals you mention of, yet the thing is though, the article mentioned of this stuff being found on a building roof and in rainwater….that is strange.
Report Post »loriann12
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 7:51pmLike a submarine? Hmmmm. Just my background speaking. I was in Bermuda, active duty navy with the job of tracking submarines, when the Soviet sub sunk off the coast, something like 1985.
Report Post »drago
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 12:12pmDisintigrated gummy bears, agent orange, or anthony weiner washed his scivvies in the ocean?
Report Post »hifi74
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 12:09pmAlmost looks like a form of sea sponge.
Report Post »Maxim Crux
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 12:05pmI bet it is a synthetic used for cloud seeding
Report Post »jhaydeng
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 12:11pmI think God dropped his jar of Cheez Wiz when he found out S&P downgraded the U.S.!
Report Post »Vickie Dhaene
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 12:40pmI think the very same thing.
Report Post »spirited
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 1:27pmjhaydeng
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 12:11pm
I think God dropped his jar of Cheez Wiz when he found out S&P downgraded the U.S.!
—————————-
Speaking of…
>Where has @Cheez –and the little rabbit– been?
Report Post »shirelover
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 2:26pmI don’t know where Cheez is, I miss him! He always has great comments! :-(
Report Post »southerngal
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 11:30amits cesium23. a powdered form of the radioactive isotope cesium8X. or possibly powdered nanorex. It is also used to seed clouds.
Report Post »FedUpAlready
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 11:42amWould this have come from Japan, or, released in the air by Korea?
Report Post »SummerB
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 11:45am@southerngal Exactly my 1st thought as Alaska has that haarp facility up there. Can’t wait to hear what it is.
Report Post »NSDQ
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 11:56amNo Matter what it really is, it will be deemed a harmless NATURAL phenomena or one due to global warming and Tea party racism
Report Post »cloudsofwar
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 12:05pmRussia testing something new.
Report Post »mamamari
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 2:06pmi agree completely but don’t be surprised if there is no proof.
Report Post »that would be too logical!
loadingmyclips
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 10:19pmYeah, just what I thought too !
Report Post »I.Gaspar
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 11:26amUntil I read that it was in rain barrels too, I thought Senator murkowski has been skinny dipping in the harbor and the goo was just some of the stuffed that came off her body.
Report Post »Dennis
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 11:24ampollen
Report Post »PA PATRIOT
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 11:22amRadioactive remains of the Japan Tsunami?
Report Post »betterthantv
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 11:31amSame thing I was wondering, but I think this is too far away?
Report Post »lylejk
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 11:39amI was thinking along the same thing too; looks like powdered yellow cake. Hope it isn’t. :)
Report Post »FedUpAlready
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 11:40amThat makes sense, maybe in conjunction with acid rain, created the orange color. I know tons of debris from Japan have created, an Island of who knows what, headed toward Alaska.
Report Post »Dont-hate-on-me-2
Posted on August 7, 2011 at 7:06amcould be a sort of radioactive dispersent. but it looks like the fungus that grows on bushes all over calif. And that stuff spreads like wild fire when there is mositure.
Report Post »BOMUSTGO
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 11:22amThey found the same stuff on the moon.
Report Post »TumbleBumble
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 11:19amSecret ingredient to McDonald’s Arctic Orange shake.
Report Post »Countrygirl1362
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 11:17amThey need to send some to an independent lab. The govt. will just cover up what ever is really going on.
Report Post »flsnipe
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 12:39pmThat’s what I was thinking.
Report Post »mossbrain
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 2:08pm“The Coast Guard already has ruled out that the orange material, which some people described as having a semi-solid feel to it, was man-made or a petroleum product.”
yeah right, the lies from the coast guard already begin.
Report Post »Mandors
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 11:14amOpium. The government is putting it in the water supply so we don’t realize what a complete mess it is.
Report Post »Drink bottled water!
cykoaudio
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 5:06pmthat’d(opium in our drinking water) be best case scenario,unfortunately,the gov’t never puts anything good in our water supply,only chlorine/fluoride/lead etc…I know you were kidding,but naturally occurring substances like opium,don’t turn bright/neon like colors..i’ve learned from all the nature shows,the brighter the color, the more poisonous or toxic it is..and this coming from the sky in rain water has to be substance ppl accuse gov’t of doing w/chemtrails and such or it wouldn’t have made it from Japan/Russia/China in the evaporation stage in the ocean to the sky,it would have stayed in the ocean,but since it has been falling from the sky,it had to have been put in the sky by man made device
Report Post »Xxoax
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 11:14amI think I heard of something like this in Mexico After it Rained there was Bright Yellow Substance all over everything, I dont recall if they ever found out what it was.
Report Post »a1776patriot
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 1:52pmThat’s what I thought. I feel like I’ve a similar story just a few weeks ago. Hmmmm
Report Post »moore428
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 7:10pmAlien spacecraft just emptying their blackwater tanks.
Report Post »Tom21773
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 11:12amThe Russians crashed the space station after promising not to. The orange stuff is the station’s supply of Tang.
Report Post »betterthantv
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 11:30amOK. You win best post of the day. Good one!
Report Post »LOLReally
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 12:08pm$5 if you taste it.
Report Post »MSG
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 11:11amTang?
Report Post »Chuck Stein
Posted on August 7, 2011 at 2:42amYou must be younger than 45. Tang is an orange colored powder that you add water to to make a citrus flavored (tangerine?) drink. It was invented by NASA for the Apollo (or maybe even Gemini or Mercury) astronauts.
Report Post »lylejk
Posted on August 7, 2011 at 5:57pmI’ve not looked for Tang in a long time at the grocery store; do they even sell it anymore? lol
I still remember getting various moon toys from Tank canisters in the day. Memories. lol
:)
Report Post »AmericanStrega
Posted on August 7, 2011 at 10:10pmTang is still available! I actually bought some a few months ago. It still has that funky taste it did in the 60′s/70′s.
Report Post »912828Buckeye
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 11:08amCancer cure or cause?
Report Post »Jack2011
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 11:06amI’m sure the SHEEPLE were smart enough to send out samples of the stuff to numerous laboratories (paying for the results themselves) and not rely on the government to TELL them what it was.
Report Post »nysparkie
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 11:05amBaby whale diarrhea? Looks like my kids when he was a one year old.
Report Post »BOMUSTGO
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 11:03amChem trail residue!
Report Post »applehill
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 11:00amProbably something the government did. It almost always is a government disaster that makes the biggest mess and never gets reported until after.
Report Post »TheCenturion
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 10:57amVenusian vomit?
Report Post »drattastic
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 10:57amIt is the pulverized backbone of house and senate republicans.
Report Post »quicker
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 11:07amNo ,it would be yellow not orange.This probily whats left after the dems from crapping all over us.
Report Post »WVBeagleMom
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 11:11amGood one!
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