Hero of the Gulf? That’s certainly what it’s starting to look like. Not only has BP purchased 32 of actor Kevin Costner’s oil/water separators but they’ve tested the hell out of them and seem legitimately amazed at how well they work. The video below demonstrates the effectiveness of these centrifuges. Once the processing is completed the water looks safer to drink than Los Angeles tap water. The best news is that a couple of these machines have already been deployed and the rest should be within the next 60 days:
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If that’s not reason enough to love the Oscar-winner, every time he speaks Costner’s natural humility, refusal to grab the spotlight for himself, and obvious sincerity is readily apparent. Below are some quotes from the full news conference. I especially like the first one — the statement about how sometimes it just takes a regular guy with determination and a wrench to solve a problem. When’s the last time you heard a movie star deliver a well-deserved nod of respect to the always impressive common sense and ingenuity of everyday people? Costner respects doers at least as much as he does the beard-scratchers.
I’d like to thank the men. I’d like to thank their wives. I know they’ve been working night and day on behalf of their state… So thank you guys for using your know-how because there’s scientists and engineers everywhere and once in a while it just takes a guy with a wrench who’s just gonna figure it out. That’s what you guys represent.”
“That’s what this machine was intended for, to be a first line of defense against oil spills. It enabled us to protect an eco-system that cannot protect itself. We need oil … but we need water more. We cannot allow oil to choke the life out of the waters which sustain our quality of life both here and around the world. We have to find a way to get a grip on oil. No one feels this more strongly right now than the men and women who have built their lives around the plentiful resources of the Gulf of Mexico. This machine was designed to fight for you.”
A guy who obviously loves the environment and empathizes with the working man put 17 years and $20 million of his own dollars where his mouth is. And it wasn’t just the technology he was fighting. This is a David vs. Goliath story if there ever was one. This one we’ll call: Kevin vs. The Feds.
Anyone who understands how ineffective and outright stupid our bloated federal government is will not be surprised to learn that one of the reasons/excuses the oil industry used to ignore Costner’s invention was due to the entrepreneur’s inability to obtain federal approval for his invention because — get this — though wildly effective, the trace amounts of oil left in the water processed by Costner’s invention exceed federal regulations. In other words, better the water stay 100% contaminated than give the okay to an amazing idea that doesn’t turn it into Perrier:
In his congressional testimony, Costner recounted his struggle to effectively market the centrifuge. He explained that although the machines are quite effective, they can still leave trace amounts of oil in the treated water that exceeds current environmental regulations. Because of that regulatory hurdle, he said, he had great difficulty getting oil industry giants interested without first having the approval of the federal government.
Yes, just another example of an obscenely arrogant system populated by obscenely arrogant bureaucrats willing — at the expense of the people they are charged with protecting — to kill the good in pursuit of the perfect. But when your agenda involves destroying the oil industry it only makes sense that the last thing you want is a device that takes away a crisis you don’t want to waste.
And these are the same people who were just put in charge of our health care.
God help us.
And God bless Kevin Costner who dreamed of making the world a better place and appears to have done so. Not only through his invention but through his example.
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