Frugal Café Blog Zone

Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on May 20, 2010

Kevin Costner, star of expensive 1995 film flop 'Waterworld'

Crazy as it sounds, actor Kevin Costner — the irony of his starring in the expensive 1995 flop Waterworld is indeed grin-worthy — may have a feasible, ready-to-go idea to clean up the oil in the Gulf of Mexico and help stop its destruction of the fragile Louisiana wetlands.

Not all Hollywood types are self-centered socialists with pretty faces and no brains — although some are self-centered socialists with no brains and the faces of pitbulls (you know who you are…).

Los Angeles Times reports… Kevin Costner’s oil spill solution:

BP’s answers to its disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico haven’t been exactly, let’s say, adequate.

While BP maintains that it’s “helping” (the equivalent of making a mess in the living room and volunteering to put a couple of toys away), a rescue may come from an unlikely place — Kevin Costner.

That’s right, that Kevin Costner.

The actor has been overseeing the building of oil separation machines just in case another calamity on the scale of the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill were to occur, as reported by the New York Times. And, lo and behold, they have built it, and the oil has come.

Costner, an avid fisherman, said of the machine he’s overseeing: “It’s prepared to go out and solve problems, not talk about them.”

From National Post, Kevin Costner to fight oil spill with new ‘Waterworld’ inspired technology:

Over a decade ago, Costner invested in Ocean Therapy Solutions, a science company fronted by his brother. The idea for the project came while Costner was working on the film Waterworld (watch it again – it’s not at all as bad as they said it was). His character used a water purifier, and Costner engaged Ocean Therapy Solution to make it a reality.

Their machine, shown below, uses centrifugal force to separate fuel from water at varying rates, leaving the polluted water 97% free of oil. BP hopes to have several of the machines in the Gulf waters by next week.

WDSU News: Actor Kevin Costner Helps To Fight Gulf Oil Spill

From WaterWorld.com, BP oil spill: Slick enters Louisiana wetlands, loop current:

One thing has been consistent throughout this disaster: Everyone wants to help. Hundreds — perhaps even thousands — of engineers, scientists and well meaning citizens have submitted technology suggestions to BP. To date, none of them have been employed. That may soon change, however. BP has agreed to test a technology brought to them by Kevin Costner, famed actor of Waterworld (no, the other Waterworld) and countless other films. For over a decade, Costner has been funding a team of researchers to develop technology for cleaning up oil spills. The result is an extraction machine that sucks in dirty, oily water and spits out water that is 99% clean.

From Christian Science Monitor, Kevin Costner oil spill cleanup idea interests BP:

Film star Kevin Costner is joining the ranks of scientists, engineers, and lawmakers in an international effort to figure out how to contain and clean up oil streaming into the Gulf of Mexico at the rate of 210,000 gallons a day.

Mr. Costner appeared in New Orleans last week to demonstrate a $24 million oil extraction device he is pitching to BP and Coast Guard officials. Costner says the device will clean oil from the water at a rate of 97 percent. BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles said Wednesday that his team will test the device next week.

Costner’s involvement in helping solve oil spill crises is not new. The 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill disaster in Alaska motivated the actor to help fund a consortium of scientists to develop technology that mitigates oil-infected water before it hits the coast. The technology is ready to combat the BP spill, he told reporters last week.

“It’s not anymore about talk,” Costner told WWL-TV in New Orleans. “It’s about doing the walk, and that phrase was probably invented down here.”

Costner’s company, Ocean Therapy Solutions, provides multiple machines designed to address spills of different sizes. The largest can clean as many as 200 gallons per minute, Costner said. The company reports it has 20 such machines ready to be employed.

“The machines are basically sophisticated centrifuge devices that can handle a huge volume of water and separate [the oil] at unprecedented rates,” Ocean Therapy Solutions CEO John Houghtaling said last week.

Costner said the machines work by drawing in the infested water where it then breaks it down, allowing the oil to discharge through a separate pipe. His audience, a gathering of local parish presidents, appeared eager to get the device to the Gulf.

“To me, this is a major tool for a tool box that should be tested,” said Craig Taffaro, St. Bernard Parish president.

FOX News: Oil Entering Gulf Loop Current, Louisiana Wetlands

Miami Herald: Oil threatens Louisiana seafood industry

Related:
Michelle Malkin: No wonder finger-pointing Obama wants oil spill finger-pointing to stop
Gateway Pundit: Kirsten Powers: Obama Administration’s Response to Gulf Oil Spill “Is Not About Campaign Donations, It’s About Incompetence” (Video) and Thick Blobs of Tar Begin Washing Up on Alabama Shore – Obama Goes Golfing and Scientists Find Giant Plumes of Oil Under Gulf… Obama Shoots Hoops and Breaking: BP Successfully Inserts Mile-Long Pipe to Siphon Oil From the Disastrous Spill and Southern Hicks Hired to Clean Up Gulf Spill With Hay (Video) Leaked Report From April 28 Shows US Government Believed Gulf Spill Could Become “Unchecked Gusher” and More Hope & Change… Obama Interior Chief Went White-Water Rafting While Oil Slick Spread
Frugal Café Blog ‘Zone: For Now, Success Reported in Gulf: Efforts to Siphon Oil with Mile-Long Tube Doing the Job, Volunteers Cleaning Birds Covered in Oil (video) and How Does White Water Rafting at the Grand Canyon Help Control Gulf Oil Spill Disaster? Interior Chief Tom Strickland Says Vacation Was “Work-Focused” and Big Oil $$ Bonanza: Obama Raked in Millions from BP Over Last 2 Decades, LA Sen. Landrieu Also Rec’d BP Money, Investigation into Obama’s Slow Response to Oil Crisis
Mcnorman’s Weblog: They Knew How Bad This Oil Slick Could Be
Doug Powers, Michelle Malkin: Obama’s Tireless Efforts On the Basketball Court and Golf Course Cause BP to Successfully Insert New Pipe to Siphon Oil to Surface
HillBuzz: Question: How can the White House and Democrats at large manage and dictate your healthcare if they can’t come up with an effective strategy for handling an oil spill?
Patterico’s Pontifications: Obama Golfs as Oil Gushes
The Powers That Be: Obama’s Tireless Efforts On the Basketball Court and Golf Course Cause BP to Successfully Insert New Pipe to Siphon Oil to Surface and Obama’s Teleprompter Expected to Tell Him to Get Pissed Today
Amused Cynic: Congress is holding hearings on the wrong gusher…
Politico: Obama biggest recipient of BP cash
Another Black Conservative: Obama is the biggest recipient of BP cash in 20 years
GayPatriot: Our Big Oil President
Nice Deb: Psssst…Chrissy – Don’t Give Him Any Ideas…
Brian Sussman, American Thinker: Taking Advantage of an Oil Crisis
Riehl World View: Milbank: “Exquisite” That Oil Spill Impacts Red States
Legal Insurrection: “Limited Federal Government = No Government” (or something like that)
New York Times: U.S. Missed Chances to Act on Oil Spill

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