Could Kevin Costner be the Gulf oil spill hero?

The Los Angeles Times

Saturday, May 22, 2010 | 3:21 p.m.

Several news sources have been reporting that a Carson City, Nev.-based firm funded by Hollywood actor Kevin Costner has developed a system that will soon be deployed by BP and the Coast Guard to help clean up the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Los Angeles Times says that Costner has been working on the project while he was working in the post-apocalyptic film Waterworld, which was released in 1995.

The British-based newspaper, The Independent writes that Costner, "has been bobbing around the Mississippi Delta helping representatives of the British oil firm and US coastguard test-drive a stainless steel device called the Ocean Therapy. In a claim which sounds as unlikely as the plot premise of Waterworld, he says it can quickly and efficiently clean oil from tainted sea water.

"Bizarrely, Costner may be on to something. The actor has spent 15 years and roughly $26m (£18m) of his personal fortune developing the patented machine with the help of his elder brother Dan, a scientist. It works like a giant vacuum cleaner, sucking up dirty liquid and then using a high-speed centrifuge to separate it into oil, and heavier water."

The Independent also writes "Costner, 55, has quietly been developing Ocean Therapy since the mid-1990s when he founded the Costner Industries Nevada Corporation, a company which funded eco-friendly research by his brother and a team of scientists."