Costner and the Oil Spill

In a weird but potentially good twist, Kevin Costner has apparently spent years and millions of dollars since the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill creating a machine that can deal with oil spills. The 300 machines, named "Ocean Therapy," are essentially giant sophisticated centrifuges that can handle large amounts of water. One of the larger models can treat 200 gallons of water a minute, which - as Costner's business partner John Houghtaling mentioned - is faster than the well is leaking.

The machines work by being placed on a barge in the spill area. They suck in large amounts of the contaminated water, separate out the oil, and spit back the cleaned water into the sea. It is able to return sea water that is 97% cleaner.

BP has agreed to test six of the Ocean Therapy machines this week. Honestly, I hope they work. This could have a really great outcome!


image sourced via NY Daily News, Brown/Getty & Beltra/Greenpeace


In other news, The Big Picture at Boston.com has posted 40 new photos from the spill site and surrounding areas. Some of them are strangely beautiful, but all of them are a sobering reminder of how much damage a spill like this can do. I highly recommend you check them out here.

Also, Russia Today has posted footage of the BP gas burn-off, which people have been asking to see. That is available here.


Main article here (NY Daily News)