Kevin Costner may yet save the day

Robin Hood actor Kevin Costner has appeared before a Congressional committee, urging them to consider a technology he invested more than $US20 million ($24 million) in that could be used to separate oil from water in the disastrous Gulf of Mexico spill.

Costner joked, referring to his role in the film Field Of Dreams, in which he played a farmer who heard voices telling him to build a ballpark in his field.

I know there must be question why I am here. I want to assure everyone in the room that it’s not because I heard a voice in the corn field

Costner and his scientist brother were deeply affected by the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill, convincing him to use his personal resources to develop technologies to help people and the environment.

Ocean Therapies Solutions is his business venture that has developed a machine that purifies water and separates it from oil. He says

Today that technology is the most effective and efficient tool for cleaning up oil spills that you have probably never heard of. I envisioned the machine as a safety device, compact and portable enough that it could be deployed on a small craft and rugged enough to operate reliably in rough seas. Our machine is the right machine for the moment

Oil giant BP, struggling with the worst ever US oil spill, is interested in the technology. After successful tests, he says

BP is now moving to place initial orders (of) these machines and they acknowledged they do the job

Personally, I’d like to see BP move a bit faster in placing an order, and hopefully Costner has them in stock.

Some pundits are critical that Costner is more interested in the sales, but if it works, who cares if he makes a fortune?

What is the environment worth anyway?

[ABC]

Categories
Science and Tech
5 Comments on this post.
  • Tweets that mention Kevin Costner may yet save the day | We Interrupt — Topsy.com
    10 June 2010 at 1:44 pm
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    […] This post was mentioned on Twitter by jedisix, Weird News. Weird News said: weinterrupt: Kevin Costner may yet save the day http://su.pr/17jt3n: weinterrupt: Kevin Costner may yet save the day http://su.pr/17jt3n […]

  • Crapalation
    10 June 2010 at 8:57 pm
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    Of course, the real question on every bodies mind is, “will it process pee, too?”

  • Crapalation
    10 June 2010 at 3:57 pm
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    Of course, the real question on every bodies mind is, “will it process pee, too?”

  • Ed Magowan
    11 June 2010 at 3:00 am
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    The oil is coming to my beach, I say if Costner’s idea has merit, give it a go. The oil cleanup crews you read about are make work for unemployed. I watched 20 of them picking up seaweed yesterday. Once the crap hits the beach there won’t be any way to clean it up.

  • Ed Magowan
    10 June 2010 at 10:00 pm
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    The oil is coming to my beach, I say if Costner’s idea has merit, give it a go. The oil cleanup crews you read about are make work for unemployed. I watched 20 of them picking up seaweed yesterday. Once the crap hits the beach there won’t be any way to clean it up.

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