Yukon Island man reports dye in bay </MCC HEAD>

Story last updated at 7:38 PM on Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Yukon Island man reports dye in bay

BY MICHAEL ARMSTRONG
STAFF WRITER

Another mysterious bright green plume washed up on Yukon Island recently, similar in color to a substance seen two years ago at the Homer harbor. Brian Anderson, a caretaker for the Abbot family compound on the island, said this week that he had seen several patches of a green substance wash up on Feb. 26 and March 9 on the Eldred Passage side of the island on the south side of Kachemak Bay.

Photo by Brian Anderson

A flare canister lies on the beach of Yukon Island with green dye in the water.

Associated with the green substance were canisters marked "phosphorous; do not handle," with military markings, seen in the photo at left on the beach. Anderson said one canister had been unexploded. He called the U.S. Coast Guard Marine Safety Detachment in Kenai and the National Response Center in Washington, D.C.

"They don't know what it is," Anderson said. "They haven't gotten any answers from the military."

The dye and canister are markers used by the Alaska Air National Guard to mark victims or vessels in the water, said Kalei Brooks, a public affairs spokesperson for the Alaska Department of Military Affairs. The green dye is sea dye, a powder that dissipates in the water and is harmless. The canister emits smoke and burns for up to 40 minutes.

They most likely came from a training exercise done on Feb. 23 by the 211th Rescue Squadron in Kachemak Bay. The Air National Guard notified the Coast Guard and the Federal Aviation Administration of the exercises in the event someone reported seeing smoke from the canister, Brooks said. Used canisters are not dangerous and can be disposed of, Brooks said. A lieutenant colonel from the ANG called Anderson to discuss disposing of the unexploded canister, Brooks said.

Michael Armstrong can be reached at michaelarmstrong.@homernews.com.