There is a “mystery” to be solved. An oily-like sheen has appeared in a river system in British Columbia, Canada. Who can solve this “mystery”? Is it water quality experts, fisheries scientists, registered professional biologists, or maybe even Nancy Drew? Of course not. Some sympathetic (oopsy, we nearly wrote “pathetic”) media would much prefer to follow the antics of an unprofessional activist (sorry about the oxymoron), whose only claim-to-fame is being wrong about many fisheries related “mysteries”. Oh, and she’s also related to the founder of Scientology: need we say more?
After a copper mine tailings pond breached a few weeks ago, Alexandra (Hubbard) Morton is “on the job”. A self-appointed “expert” on mostly anything, she purports to be doing “the people’s work” because government is so “inept”. Fortunately (for Ms. Morton), there are many like-minded folks (anti-big business, anti-government, anti-everything) on the Internet nowadays who are happy to follow along and want to believe everything she says.
Alexandra (Hubbard) Morton: “expert” or wandering hippy?
She’s been wrong many times before: she incorrectly reported that Infectious Salmon Anemia had been found in the Pacific Northwest, she incorrectly claimed that piscine reovirus was a newly introduced fish virus in the Pacific Ocean, she blamed a low return of Fraser River sockeye salmon (2009) on sea lice from salmon farms (only to have the very next year be a record return), and she predicted that pink salmon in British Columbia would be wiped out by now (that area has had record-high returns of pink salmon in the past several years).
Yes, her record of accuracy is in fact, terrible. But she doesn’t have time to reflect on her errors, because she so quickly moving on to her next allegation.
So, back to Mount Polley and the “oily-like sheen mystery”! As sympathetic reporter, David Ball at “Vice.com” reports, Morton is on the trail of a “mysterious, blue, waxy sheen floating on the lake below the mine tailings disaster.” As reported, “…Alexandra Morton traveled to ground zero of the accident with her own sample kit and research equipment.” and discovered a substance that “looks like oil, but it breaks up. It kind of acts like hot wax put on water; it forms this stiff film.”
She wants answers, she says. On behalf of the people, she says.
Government officials have provided an answer. They had also noticed, collected, and tested the same substance and concluded it is a “result of the decaying vegetation/trees in the lake due to the tailings breach and does not impact human health at this time.”
Well, that is indeed good news, right? Not for Morton, who cannot be wrong. So, cue the anti-authority speak: “The people of Likely, the town below this, don’t believe the government,” she says. Again, she just can’t be wrong and when proven wrong, she just falls back to claiming that only she reports the truth and everyone else is wrong, or paid to be wrong. Get a hold of yourself lady.
So, we thought we would get all “Hardy Boys” and Google search “oil-like waxy sheen”. Geeez, guess what popped up: an information sheet about a naturally occurring bacteria with this specific information: “The bacteria can also cause a sheen on the water’s surface, which is often mistaken for oil. The two can be distinguished by poking at the sheen with a stick. If the sheen goes back together after removing the stick, the sheen is most likely from oil. If the sheen breaks into pieces, it is likely that iron bacteria are present.”
It “breaks up”. Yep. “Mystery” solved.
http://www.alaskasalmonranching.com/mount-polley-mystery-easily-solved-with-one-mouse-click/
