Rick Raw: Kevin Costner Plans to Save Gulf Coast with Giant Centrifugal Oil Separator

By Rick Grant Commentary rickgrant01@comcast.net

The specter of movie stars dabbling in other fields, like starting rock bands, has always irked the people in the music business who think these movie stars are interloping on their territory and their efforts are ill-conceived to fulfill some vain rock star fantasy.

This time, however, movie star Kevin Costner, who sank $24 million into his giant centrifugal oil separators, has a viable invention that BP and the Coast Guard have agreed to test and use to help save the Gulf Coast.

Costner started working on the development of the oil separators when he was making his collossal bomb, "Waterworld," released in 1995. Costner says he’s
tested the machines and they do indeed work.

Essentially, these centrifuges are giant vacuum cleaners that suck up the oil tainted water, separate the oil and discharge it into a containment tank, with clean water discharging from a another outlet.

The huge stainless steel machines can handle large volumes of oil saturated water. If BP and the Coast Guard approve their use, Costner could sell them multiple units that would clean up the oil quickly. This of course, is contingent on BP capping the gushing oil at the bottom of the seabed.

After the Katrina debacle, Louisiana officials again criticized the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for delays in approving an emergency plan to build sand islands to protect the bayous and wetland of Louisiana.

Now the oil has contaminated the bayous and wetlands so crucial to the ecosystem of the Gulf Coast. After all, there are 4,000 oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, any one of which could have a serious accident like the Deepwater Horizon, that would cause a catastrophic oil spill.

Actor/producer Stephen Baldwin is shooting a documentary about the oil spill and Costner’s centrifugal oil separator. Clearly, Costner is not seeking publicity, he is a serious conservationist who long ago foresaw a terrible Gulf Coast oil spill disaster.

Meanwhile, producer/director James Cameron, who invented high tech deep water submersibles for shooting the "The Abyss" and "Titanic" has offered his technology to BP and the Coast Guard who are definitely interested.

In addition to being a brilliant filmmaker, Cameron has invented new camera technology to shoot "Avatar" that allowed the cameraman to see the blue screen characters as real time finished characters against finished backgrounds, greatly enhancing the cinematographers viewpoint and speeding up the final cut.

So, Cameron and Costner are legitimate inventors who work to improve their art and are concerned about the environment. Yes, they’ve made big money in films, but they also crank big money into their inventions.

If all goes well with the Coast Guard and BP testing Costner’s separators, Costner plans to have as many as 26 machines spread out throughout the Gulf. The largest machine is 112 inches high and weighs 21/2 tons. It will clean 210,000gallons of oily water per day. By having all of Costner machines working simultaneously, they could clean over 2 million gallons of oily water per day.

Ah yes, this is a case of a filthy rich movie star putting his money where his mouth is to help the Gulf Coast. This is the largest oil spill in U.S. history, and will eclipse hurricane Katrina in long term harm to the ecology and economy of the Gulf Coast for many years into the future. And, worse yet, as of this writing, BP has not plugged the gushing oil.