Hero?

Enter “Waterworld” star Kevin Costner, who has spent years and millions of dollars perfecting a device that cleans oil from seawater.

British Petroleum – desperate for ideas – gave the okay to test six of Costner’s gizmos this week, said BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles.

Click here to read the full NY Daily News story.

I’m almost certain that a few months ago, during a cable showcase of some hopelessly watchable Costner film (there are about a dozen, maybe more, he’s prolific, it’s hard to keep up), while trading KC anecdotes, someone actually told me about this project of his. I half-remember the consensus reaction at that time being the same slack-jawed “shut-UP” mouthed today at my desk.  I’m just so mad at myself now for not remembering, weeks ago, that unsolicited, Kevin Costner “sank $26 million into the Ocean Therapy oil separator project,” or that he “obtained a license for the device from the Department of Energy in 1993 and has been trying for years to promote it.”

Primitive celebrity relief effort circa 2005.

How did this ever slip my mind and why didn’t I think of it again before it became news news? Argh.

Last week, he was in Louisiana seeking redemption, demonstrating his Ocean Therapy contraption.

“I’m just really happy that the light of day has come to this,” Costner said.

Though reporters largely greeted his ideas with snickers, BP apparently wasn’t laughing.

Costner has 300 of his Ocean Therapy machines in various sizes. The largest, at 21/2 tons, is able to clean water at a rate of 200 gallons a minute – faster than the well is leaking,

Is this the Spruce Goose of… well, there’s really no comparison is there? Besides, the Hercules flew didn’t it? Plenty of room for optimism and hope for this here Ocean Therapy contraption.

Placed on a barge, it sucks in large quantities of polluted water, separates out the oil and spits back 97% clean water.

"Reporters largely greeted his ideas with snickers..."

“It’s like a big vacuum cleaner,” said Costner’s business partner, Louisiana trial lawyer John Houghtaling.

“The machines are basically sophisticated centrifuge devices that can handle a huge volume of water,” he said.

The “Field of Dreams” star first got a team together to create the device in the wake of the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska.

His scientist brother, Dan Costner, helped develop the device, and together, the brothers formed Costner Industries Nevada Corp. to pursue various energy projects, including a non-chemical battery that could last 15 years.

I really, really want this to work.  “Waterworld” jokes and snickering aside, there is a serious need to clean up the Gulf as quickly and thoroughly as possible; what a great, random story it would be if this were effective. And Kevin Costner, of all people… Maybe, as nod, instead of going to see Russel Crowe’s “Robin Hood,” this summer, I’ll find time and pop in an old VHS of “Prince of Thieves.” Still not joking.

Good luck, Kevin Costner. Sincerely.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 20th, 2010 at 3:25 pm and is filed under General, Newsmakers, Offshore. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.