BP turns to cleanup device backed by Kevin Costner

[Tansy_Gold]

Source: NECN (Comcast)

(NECN) - BP has announced it has ordered 32 machines designed by actor Kevin Costner to clean up the oil spill.

The machine separates oil from water and manages to recycle the crude at the same time. Costner says that with any drilling operation, there is oil spilled, "whether we choose to acknowledge it or not."

He says the Exxon Valdez was known as a disaster, but, "there's not a word big enough, or ugly enough" to describe the Gulf oil leak.


Read more: http://www.necn.com/06/18/10/BP-turns-to-cleanup-device-backed-by-Kev/landing.html?blockID=256423&feedID=4215

---

I'm trying to find a date and time on this but can't find one.

Originally I saw the notice on the ROV link.


Will provide more info as I find it.




Tansy Gold

[DesertFlower]

1. i heard it on the news yesterday.

[Downtown Hound]

2. This news was announced earlier in the week

Still pretty fresh, but it has been announced. Kevin Costner was on CNN Monday night and spoke about the machines. He said that BP has spent the past few weeks testing them and they passed, so they ordered 32 of them. There's no news yet as to how they are performing in the gulf or if they're even being used yet.

[Tansy_Gold]

3. I couldn't find a date and I didn't see anything in LBN so I posted it

After Costner's original announcement way back in May, there was nothing but silence from everyone -- BP, media, Costner himself.

So when I saw this on the ROV feed -- I don't even know which link I was on -- I tracked it down. The NECN link, which also has a video, was the only one I could find but it had no date.

At least it's SOMETHING and it seems to be moving forward. And every bit helps!



TG

[DemReadingDU]

14. The date is in the link, 06/18/10

But that really doesn't say what date the video was taken. And it is an emotional video. Costner says the spills we've had before were disasters, but what do we call this? A catastrophe, he asks? The machine was designed to fight back, to be a first line of defense against oil spills and to protect the eco system.

[Tansy_Gold]

15. I saw the date in the link, but I don't always trust those

I was looking for some indication of when the article itself was published.

As frustrated as all of us are, feeling unable to do anything while we watch BP destroy the Gulf and the Gulf coast, I can't imagine how Costner feels. He has MONEY, for pete's sake, and he has a MACHINE that might actually do some good, and they're just stalling. :grr:



TG

[DemReadingDU]

18. I believe it was Friday 6/18/10, because

If you look at the shirt Costner is wearing in the video, he is wearing the same shirt as in the picture at this link...

Kevin Costner, founding partner, Ocean Therapy Solutions Inc. along with John Houghtaling II, Chief Executive Officer, and Patrick Smith, Chief Operating Officer of Ocean Therapy Solutions Inc. answer questions from the media in Port Fourchon, Louisiana June 18, 2010. (REUTERS/Sean Gardner)
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/6/19/worldupdates/2010-06-19T080738Z_01_NOOTR_RTRMDNC_0_-494475-1&sec=Worldupdates

[northernlights]

4. I saw it at work on Tuesday or Wednesday

didn't have time to check it out further.

I did read earlier today that at first the machines didn't work because the oil was so heavy and thick. After they recalibrated them, they worked great and remove 99% of the oil. Costner said that if they'd had 20 of them day 1, they would have cleaned up everything.

Maybe with 32, they'll be able to clean up everything that's spewing *and* clean up as much as possible that's already spreading around...

[defendandprotect]

5. Finally -- !!! We've known about this device since like day 20??? ... Well, maybe 30???

[Tansy_Gold]

7. Since at least 5/13/10, Day 23

http://www.wdsu.com/news/23550079/detail.html

Actor Kevin Costner Helps Fight Oil Spill

Costner In New Orleans To Promote Oil-Extracting Machine

POSTED: 11:37 pm CDT May 13, 2010
UPDATED: 9:43 am CDT May 14, 2010


<snip>
The machine works on the principle of centrifugal force. In this case, diesel fuel and water enter the machine together and are jettisoned separately, with water on one side and diesel on the other. The machine will clean the water up to 97 percent, said officials with Ocean Therapy Solutions.

"We're working on the technology now that will get us the other 3 percent so that you can actually drink out of the machine," said OTS official John Houghtaling II.

"I just am really happy that this has come to the light of day," Costner said. "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."

<end snip>

[defendandprotect]

11. Costner is a smart/aware guy -- hope he's thinking about how to plug this hole -- !!!

Looks like they could use some help there, as well!!

[Bluenorthwest]

6. Many a DUer mocked this idea, because Costner is an actor

Just as it was equally absurd to them that James Cameron might have a hand to lend, because he's just a film director.

[Abacus]

9. I think it's a great idea,

but that's probably because I had the same one. :evilgrin: I stopped myself giving it much more thought, thinking the design was so straightforward that it must be already employed in spill cleanups. Within the week, I heard Kevin Costner promoting the same thing and I still find it shocking this design has not already been widely implemented.

[defendandprotect]

12. And the other idea which quickly disappeared -- a COAGULANT .....

which Hartman says exists --

and not only will it coagulate the oil --

you can then more easily gather up the oil --

and the coagulant is not only easily separated from the oil later --

but it's REUSABLE!!

We found out about the COAGULANT about the same time as Costner's device.

[Tansy_Gold]

8. More details

Saturday June 19, 2010
BP deploys Costner's oil machine in Gulf cleanup
By Jeffrey Jones


<snip>

BP acquired 32 of the centrifuges to help remove some of the oil that has been gushing into the Gulf from its blown-out well in the worst oil spill in U.S. history.

The units are being deployed after BP tested them to see if they could handle the crude leaking from an undersea well for two months at an estimated rate of up to 60,000 barrels a day (2.5 million gallons/9.5 million liters).

<snip>

Costner testified in the U.S. Congress last week about the need for a 21st century solution to the risks of drilling in waters as deep as one mile (1.6 km).

His proposals had been ignored and bureaucratic red tape hindered the introduction of new technology, he said.


<end snip>


Elsewhere in the article it is stated that the equipment is "expected to be working in the next 60 days, BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles said." So this is not something that they're apparently going to head out into the Gulf tomorrow and start cleaning up the mess, but at least I wanted to keep the story updated.



TG

[IDemo]

10. Just to clear things up, Costner did not design the machines

They were originally invented by a scientist at the Idaho National Lab. It was based on technology that was designed to separate components of nuclear substances. Costner bought a license for the technology from its inventor, David Meikrantz, in 1993. I'm quite certain that the engineers at Ocean Therapy Solutions have since made advances in the design, though.

http://www.idahostatesman.com/2010/06/18/1236284/bp-turns-to-inl-scientists-invention.html

[defendandprotect]

13. BTW, KENVIN COSTNER on with Anderson Cooper tonight .....interesting ...

and Anderson Cooper is doing a lot of other stuff on the Gulf -- THE ATLANTIS ...

AND WHISTLEBLOWERS ON THAT ONE ....

Probably more I missed?

Better reports on washing/saving birds -- somehow they've greatly improved likelihood

of survival -- not all birds -- depends on type. But somewhat better!!

[Tansy_Gold]

16. Link to an Anderson Cooper / Kevin Costner interview

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oFjTWs_FWY

I don't know if this is the one you're referring to as I think this is from 6/15.

Funny thing -- I've liked some of Costner's movies, but I never really thought of him as a good actor. There's something about a "good" actor that makes you forget they're acting. They just become the character and their real person just disappears. No matter what film, Costner was still Costner, and I just couldn't get away from that.


But watching this interview, that's the real Kevin Costner, and I think that's kind of remarkable.




Tansy Gold

[Tansy_Gold]

17. Congressional testimony

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TrG77SoRHQ

Not the best performance -- he's better ad libbing than reading, but the message is still there.




TG

[defendandprotect]

24. Similar reaction . . . cute guy... but ended up respecting him for his activism....

[underpants]

19. build it and they will come

[Tansy_Gold]

21. Well, y'know, Costner has been just about as stubborn and

determined as Ray Kinsella. He coulda ignored The Voice and walked away when BP said they didn't want his "idea." But he didn't. Sometimes life imitates art.




Tansy Gold, who has made the pilgrimage to Dyersville

[defendandprotect]

25. We need more Costner's looking after nature, environment, citizen's interests . . .

It's the kind of thinking the nation needs!!



:)

[Uncle Joe]

20. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Tansy_Gold.

[Tansy_Gold]

22. You are most welcome, sir

:hi:

[Uncle Joe]

23. Peace to you Tansy

:hi: