BP calls in Costner's $26m vacuum cleaners to mop up huge oil spill

[malaise]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/bp-calls-in-costners-26m-vacuum-cleaners-to-mop-up-huge-oil-spill-1979976.html
<snip>
Desperate times call for desperate measures. So with hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil still spewing into the Gulf of Mexico each day, and its corporate image starting to resemble the tar-covered sea creatures now washing on to Louisiana's fragile shoreline, BP has called on Kevin Costner to help stave off environmental Armageddon.

The Hollywood star has been bobbing around the Mississippi Delta helping representatives of the British oil firm and US coastguard test-drive a stainless steel device called the Ocean Therapy. In a claim which sounds as unlikely as the plot premise of Waterworld, he says it can quickly and efficiently clean oil from tainted sea water.

In Washington, BP is being accused of underestimating the scale of the leak in an effort to protect its reputation. The firm originally said that 1,000 barrels of oil were spilling each day, but later increased that figure to 5,000. Many scientists believe the real figure is higher still.

Amid growing political pressure, BP has agreed to allow live underwater footage of oil billowing into the ocean to be screened online. Although one relief well was drilled last week, and is said to be capturing 200,000 gallons of oil a day, the firm now admits that it could take until August to plug the leak.

[Rex]

1. Up next, BP will try and convince us Kevin Costner has gills and can talk to sea turtles.

BP asked Costner to tell all marine life in the area to vacate until the area was properly treated. Any life still in the area would be forced to sign a waiver and given 3 clams as compensation.

[undeterred]

2. Wow, I bet he gets to play himself when it becomes an action flick.

[leftstreet]

4. Oilworld n/t

[chill_wind]

3. Reading more.. this is interesting and somewhat hopeful sounding

"Bizarrely, Costner may be on to something. The actor has spent 15 years and roughly $26m (£18m) of his personal fortune developing the patented machine with the help of his elder brother Dan, a scientist. It works like a giant vacuum cleaner, sucking up dirty liquid and then using a high-speed centrifuge to separate it into oil, and heavier water.

When he allowed the local media to see Ocean Therapy in action – albeit on dry land – it appeared to work as advertised. Yesterday, six of the devices were attached to boats and floated into the Gulf, so the organisers of the clean-up operation could see whether they might also be capable of functioning on the high seas.

"This is a technology that we know works, and has worked for a long time," Costner said, adding that 26 of the machines are now in Louisiana ready to be put into action. "I'm just really happy that the light of day has come to this, and I'm very sad about why it is. But this is why it was developed, and like anything that we all face, as a group, we face it together."

[FirstLight]

5. I think he *is* a hero...

Being an actor/ producer/ etc is often a means to an end for a few lucky ones, look at the green crowd: Julia Louis Dreyfus, Ed Begley Jr.come to mind, Ted Danson... If I was blessed enough to get published or write a million dollar screenplay (or a few ;)), I would use the money and spare time to play in the garden and make community gardening a reality on a mass scale. He chose to play in the garage with his brother and develop new technology...that is actually how most of our patents begin.

...an if it really works, I am so much more stoked! Thank god/dess *SOMEONE* has some technology to use on this mess. The "experts" are surely tapped as far as ideas, right?

[cilla4progress]

6. What an odd twist...

Great if it works, of course. It's just like some sort of strange plot. I've never liked Costner except for Dances With Wolves. If this is at all for real, it will completely change my view of him.

[monmouth]

7. Costner is definitely more than a pretty face. Good on him...n/t

[Hubert Flottz]

8. K&R

I hope something helps! Anything.

[NNN0LHI]

9. I have eaten at Kevin Costner's restaurant in Deadwood South Dakota a few times

His brother runs the place. He looks like Kevin's twin brother.

Good food. Very expensive. Get a reservation.

Don