Kevin Costner's company cleaning up oil spill with new technology?

[Ari Ben-Canaan]

Interesting.  I hope that it is successful.

http://www.themoneytimes.com/featured/20100619/kevin-costner%E2%80%99s-oil-cleanup-machines-being-used-save-gulf-id-10118103.html

British-based global energy company British Petroleum (BP) has this weekend send few water-cleaning centrifuges out of 32 machines, bought from Hollywood actor Kevin Costner’s company 'Ocean Therapy Solutions,' to save the Gulf.

BP signed the deal last week in its attempt to clean gulf from the oil spill problem. The company will be taking advantage of these machines for the next 60 days.

While addressing reporters at the Port Fourchon, an oil industry supply port in southern Louisiana, Costner said, "At its core, my dream, this machine, was designed...to give us a fighting chance to fight back the oil that's got us by the throat. When you are in a fight, anybody knows you go to confront it right where it is. You don't wait for it to come to your door.”

However, neither BP nor Costner revealed the financial aspect of the deal.

Kevin blames bureaucratic red tape for delayed action
Kevin Costner last week stated that he had invested over $20 million in the centrifuge development and tried for past 17 years to employ the technology designed by his company.

But his efforts were always blocked by the bureaucratic red tape.

    BP signed the deal last week in its attempt to clean gulf from the oil spill problem. The company will be taking advantage of these machines for the next 60 days.

"The whole world is watching as America fumbles its way through the greatest environmental disaster in history. I believe there are other small companies out there in the private sector just like us. You should know that negotiating your way through the bureaucratic maze that currently exists is like trying to play a video game that nobody can master," told Costner to the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship at a hearing on Thursday in Washington.

Costner had recently revealed at the 'Good Morning America' show that 1989’s Exxon Valdez oil spill had inspired him to build a system that will effectively clean the oil from water.

BP CEO holidaying
While US is busy searching for solutions to combat the worst oil spill in the history, BP’s CEO Tony Hayward, reportedly, on Saturday, attended a glitzy yacht race off the Isle of Wight.

However, BP spokesman Robert Wine rubbished reports that Hayward does not care about the oil spill and is enjoying a luxurious holiday by attending the JP Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race.

"He's continuing to work hard. You don't have to be physically in a location to remain in charge of the response. At some point in the near future, he'll be back in the U.S.," said Wine in Hayward’s defense.

http://fieldnotes.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/06/18/4530991-costners-dream-machines-debut

Hollywood star Kevin Costner debuted Friday in his supporting role as a Gulf oil-spill fighter.

News agencies reported on the actor's premiere staged at the docks in the oil industry supply port of Port Fourchon in southern Louisiana as BP began deploying 32 of his "dream" machines to separate oil from water. Costner's backdrop was an oil-finding barge with his machines mounted on the deck.

"At its core, my dream, this machine, was designed ... to give us a fighting chance to fight back the oil that's got us by the throat," Costner told reporters.

"When you are in a fight, anybody knows you go to confront it right where it is. You don't wait for it to come to your door," the actor said.

Costner's company, Ocean Therapy Solutions, signed a contract with BP to provide 32 units expected to work in the next 60 days.

BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles would not disclose financial details.

Costner said each machine, called a V20, can separate 210,000 gallons of oily water a day.

Costner, best-known for such films as "Dances with Wolves" and "Waterworld," stressed he was no overnight oil spill sensation. He has been trying to employ the technology designed by his company for the past 17 years, and has invested more than $20 million of his own money in its development.

The technology was developed two decades ago by a researcher at the Idaho National Laboratory by scientist David Meikrantz, who initially sought to use the machines to separate the components of nuclear substances.

In 1993, INL licensed the technology to Ocean Therapy Solutions, a company owned by Costner.