A few weeks back, we mentioned Kevin Costner's magical water-cleaning machines. They can clean up to 200 gallons in a minute, and over the last twenty years Costner has invested $20 million of his own money into developing these separators, in partnership with Ocean Therapy Solutions. The project initially sparked his interest after the Exxon-Valdez disaster, and he since sold 32 of them to BP to help with the Gulf of Mexico disaster. On Wednesday, Costner testified in front of the House Science and Technology Energy and Environment Subcommittee regarding these machines. A few weeks back, we mentioned Kevin Costner’s magical water-cleaning machines. They can clean up to 200 gallons in a minute, and over the last twenty years Costner has invested $20 million of his own money into developing these separators, in partnership with Ocean Therapy Solutions. The project initially sparked his interest after the Exxon-Valdez disaster, and he since sold 32 of them to BP to help with the Gulf of Mexico disaster. On Wednesday, Costner testified in front of the House Science and Technology Energy and Environment Subcommittee regarding these machines.
Reactions to this phenomenon are varied. Sure, the machines sound great, but wait–Kevin Costner? Okay, okay, maybe these things can potentially save species and ecosystems in one of the most polluted areas of water in the world, but really–Kevin Costner! He’s had his fair share of naysayers. Mother Jones’s Kate Sheppard was quoted in an AtlanticWire post saying, “Like many, I at first thought the idea of Kevin Costner as a Gulf savior sounded absurd.” Under the New York Times blog post about his testimony, the first sentence of the second reader comment reads, “My first reaction was what the heck, Kevin Costner?” So how did Costner manage to change everyone’s mind?
Since the machines Costner has helped develop are not “approved machinery,” he’s had a hard time before now making a sale — many people feel the separators could potentially make a bad situation worse. But perhaps after so many failed clean-up schemes, BP is willing to try damn near anything to get this oil out of the Gulf. So Kevin Costner stepped in. And sure, the amount of time and money he’s spent working on these things is pretty impressive — but then again, it kind of just seems like the House subcommittee has a crush on him.
Why would I say this? Well, he’s not the only dude with an awesome water-cleaning machine. In Fort Lauderdale, the company Enviro Voraxial Inc has another machine that according to John DiBella, Enviro’s chief operating officer, can clean up to 500 gallons of water per minute (whaddya say to that, Kevin?) And yet, in an interview about the machine, DiBella is quoted as saying, “Unfortunately, I don’t have the good looks or the awareness of Mr. Costner.” Tough cookies.
So for now it would appear that the fate of the Gulf of Mexico rests at least somewhat in the strong, manly hands of Kevin Costner. He’s pretty uplifting, though, so at the very least maybe he’ll make everyone feel better about this. Like he told the House subcommittee: “If we’re going to continue to see oil coming up on shore and the best we can do is hay and rubber boots, maybe we can do better.” I can almost hear the music swells now.
June 17, 2010 at 3:08 pm, Death and Taxes » Watch Joe Barton Apologize to BP! said:
[...] KEVIN COSTNER MIGHT REALLY SAVE THE WORLD var addthis_pub="deathtaxmag"; [...]
August 12, 2010 at 2:33 pm, Year of the Folk Hero: 14 People Who Stuck It To The Man | Death and Taxes said:
[...] zany ideas to help clean up the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, with varying success: BP bought 32 of Costner’s water-cleansing machines to help capture the leaked oil, but James Cameron, who offered his “Titanic” expertise, [...]