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| Kevin Costner's Gonna Clean Up the Gulf Oil Spill? |
| 2010-05-21 |
| For 15 years, Kevin Costner has been overseeing the construction of oil separation machines to prepare for the possibility of another disaster of the magnitude of the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill. Does this evoke his tagline from "Field of Dreams?" It seems that Mr. Costner, the 55-year-old actor, environmental activist and fisherman, was ready for the current spill in the gulf. Disturbed by the effects of the Valdez spill in Alaska, Mr. Costner bought the nascent technology from the government in 1995 and put $24 million of his own money into developing it for the private sector. "Kevin saw the Exxon Valdez spill, and as a fisherman and an environmentalist, it just stuck in his craw, the fact that we didn't have separation technology," said John Houghtaling, Mr. Costner's lawyer and business partner as chief executive with Ocean Therapy Solutions, which developed the technology. Mr. Costner's brother, Dan, is a scientist who worked on the project and was also in New Orleans this week. On Wednesday, BP's chief operating officer, Doug Suttles, said that the company had approved six of Ocean Therapy's 32 machines for testing. All boast centrifuge processing technology -- giant vacuum-like machines that suck oil from water, separate the oil, store it in a tanker and send the water, 99.9 percent purified, back into the gulf. "I'm very happy the light of day has come to this," Mr. Costner said at a news conference in New Orleans. He said he was "very sad" about the spill, "but this is why it's developed." "It's prepared to go out and solve problems, not talk about them," the actor said of the technology. Mr. Houghtaling of Ocean Therapy Solutions said that the company had trained independent contractors and were bringing in scientists from U.C.L.A. to deploy the machines, which were waiting on a barge in Venice, La., on Wednesday afternoon. The technology was available for use 10 years ago, Mr. Houghtaling said. "These machines have been very robust, but nobody's been interested in them until now," he added. BP officials and Ocean Therapy are working to determine where best in the gulf to test the machines, and if all goes well, the technology will be running within the week, he said. "We just need the green light from BP." He said that the largest four machines have the capability of separating 210,000 gallons of oil from water a day, 200 gallons a minute. Even if it doesn't work, I gotta respect a guy who puts his own money on the line to solve a problem. That's far more than any of the other Hollyweird "environmentalists" have done. |
| Posted by:Cornsilk Blondie |
| #7 Probably works better than hay offshore. Should be able to stick a hose down into the plume, and not just address the surface slick. Good on him. |
| Posted by: KBK 2010-05-21 21:41 |
| #6 Interesting. Costner was pretty convincing in "The Guardian", playing a Coast Guard Search and Rescuer. He is really dedicated about maritime issues. Worth seeing that movie. |
| Posted by: GirlThursday 2010-05-21 16:29 |
| #5 It should work. One mis-statement though - the largest won't separate 210,000 gallons of oil from water per day, but will separate 210,000 gallons of fluid into its oil and water parts. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2010-05-21 12:31 |
| #4 Thought for the day: BP's main business is reselling imported oil. Drilling for oil here is just a sideline to them. Look at the situation out there in the Gulf now. They didn't own the drillship, they don't own the drillships trying to drill the relief well now, they don't own the BOP's. I don't know if they own the riser pipe or just rent it from ABB Vetco (who's now owned by GE). They probably rent their drill pipe from some other rental company. I don't know if they owned their BOP's or just rented them from Cameron. Why would they develop oil separation machines when it doesn't look like they've developed anything else. |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2010-05-21 11:07 |
| #3 I hope he makes a good profit on his investment. |
| Posted by: Penguin 2010-05-21 10:18 |
| #2 Obviously, it will be a good thing if it works. Win or lose, it points up that the big oil companies never would have developed such a thing, as it would be an admission that "spills will happen." |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2010-05-21 09:54 |
| #1 Yup , credit where credit is due. Fair play Mr Costner , just dont make Waterworld 2 ! |
| Posted by: Oscar 2010-05-21 09:15 |