the article doesn't say it, but this all suggests someone probably had a bunch of old crap in a tank and dumped in the ocean. Maybe it was a giant ocean liner amount of it. Right? Why does no one want to just say that outright?
Mostly because the article is about a chemist focussed on identifying WTF it is and less so an expert in shipping/unreported damage/clandestine dumping.
Seems like goofy credentialism. Large amounts of this stuff don’t just appear; someone put it there. Why do we need an expert in ‘clandestine dumping’ to tell us that?
> expert in ‘clandestine dumping’
Do bears clandestinely dump in the woods?
Only when nobody's looking.
Alternately, shipping containers are regularly lost from container ships.
The article doesn't say if this was closer to raw material or waste.
Good point, didn't think about that stuff falls off ships pretty commonly.
Nothing to worry about, it’s just Elon building Galt’s Gulch in the middle of the Canadian wilderness.