Kevin Costner is in New Orleans promoting an oil-extracting machine to help with the clean up there. This sure as hell looks like a better idea than those dispersants they're using in the Gulf. Whether they could be produced on a scale to make a difference is another matter, but something needs to be done besides this: Less Toxic Dispersants Lose Out in BP Oil Spill Cleanup:
BP PLC continues to stockpile and deploy oil-dispersing chemicals manufactured by a company with which it shares close ties, even though other U.S. EPA-approved alternatives have been shown to be far less toxic and, in some cases, nearly twice as effective.After the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded and a deepwater well began gushing crude in the Gulf of Mexico three weeks ago, BP quickly marshaled a third of the world's available supply of dispersants, chemicals that break surface oil slicks into microscopic droplets that can sink into the sea.
But the benefits of keeping some oil out of beaches and wetlands carry uncertain costs. Scientists warn that the dispersed oil, as well as the dispersants themselves, might cause long-term harm to marine life. Read on...
Kevin Costner Helps Fight Oil Spill:
Actor Kevin Costner was in New Orleans on Thursday with a machine that extracts oil from water, New Orleans TV station WDSU reported.
He said he's ready to go to work to help clean up the Gulf oil spill.
The world-famous actor and environmental activist said he's not here to talk the talk. He's here to walk the walk.
"We moved this through a technology that we know works, and it's prepared to go out and solve problems, not talk about them," Costner said.
At a demonstration surrounded by local parish leaders, Costner and his business partners displayed their oil extractor device for the local media.
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, officials with Ocean Therapy Solutions said.
"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," OTS official John Houghtaling II said.
"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." Read on...
