2 new technologies for cleaning up the oil spill:

[Are_grits_groceries]

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Extreme Spill Technology's "High Speed" Skimming Vessel Mechanical clean-up technology tends to work only in placid waters. Booms and skimmers can be rendered ineffective and unsafe in currents of more than 1 knot and waves exceeding 1.5 meters. According to David Prior, CEO and lead designer at Extreme Spill Technologies, his boat—the method for which has been successfully demonstrated for the Canadian Coast Guard—can not only handle rough seas, it can also travel at much higher speeds.
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http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/energy/coal-oil-gas/state-of-oil-cleaning-tech

NASA-Inspired Aerogel
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By modifying the different polymers that keep aerogel from collapsing in on itself, scientists can program which liquids or particles the material picks up.

An aerogel sponge could clean up oil covering rocks and birds like a kitchen sponge, but AeroClay's executives primarily have another use in mind; stopping oil from reaching the shore in the first place.

Large sheets of aerogel could be placed at the source of the oil leak and absorb more oil faster. Once the sponge is filled with oil, the pad would be removed, the oil squeezed out and stored for future use, and the sponge could be put back in the water to absorb more oil.
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http://news.discovery.com/tech/aerogel-oil-spill-cleanup.html

However, it's next generation technology. It isn't ready to be used.

Why?

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Innovation in oil spill clean-up has not occurred in over 40 years. One current R&D approach focuses on dissolving the oil into the food chain. This approach, in fact, has been ongoing for decades but has recently been shown to potentially poison fish and other underwater life: Queens News Centre.
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http://aquacomgroup.com/wordpress/2009/12/09/new-oil-spill-clean-up-technology-could-benefit-aquaculture-producers/

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"It's clear where the R&D dollars of the oil industry haven't gone," said Mark Ferrullo, executive director of the advocacy group Environment Florida. "If you look at the solutions they are employing, they're using fire, one of the oldest technologies on the planet, and dispersants, which are more toxic than the oil, and basically a giant thimble (the 100-ton containment dome lowered Friday onto the leak) they had to build from scratch."

Industry leaders conceded as much in a paper presented at a conference seven years ago.
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Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/05/08/93782/gulf-spill-just-one-sign-of-oil.html#ixzz0nQdOAySH

<snip>
"The industry says it never had a blowout," he said, and as a result the oil "industry is not going to spend good money on problems that it says aren't there." But King said that "you need new technology to deal with the problems that your other new technology got you." And he said that the federal government, instead of just collecting its royalties, should have made sure that research took place.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/03/AR2010050302781.html?sid=ST2010050304543

This is what makes me so furious. The oil companies couldn't be bothered to spend any of their eleventy billion dollars in profits over the years to develop new methods. With more money and an earlier start, both of these technologies might be ready now. In addition, other new methods besides these could have been in the works.

They have also not kept up with new drilling technologies to use at those huge depths. That's another melting ball of wax.

An enormous "Shamwow" is probably going to be their next idea.

They should all be locked up in another huge box like the one they lowered in the Gulf.

[Scuba]

1. Soak it up with Republicans....

...then wring 'em out.