Costner To Pitch Oil Vacuum To U.s. Congress

U.S. government officials are taking KEVIN COSTNER’s oil vacuum invention seriously - the actor has been selected as part of an expert panel on cleanup technology and will pitch his idea to Congress on Wednesday (09Jun10).

The Waterworld star and his scientist brother Dan Costner run Costner Industries Nevada Corporation (CINC), and have previously promoted a filtration system, designed by Dan, to recycle oil.

BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles recently agreed to test out six of the devices on the oil spill that has devastated America’s Gulf Coast region since one of its rigs exploded off the coast of Louisiana in April (10).

Now the actor will testify before the House Subcommittee on the Environment about his stainless-steel devices, which his business partners have described as “big vacuum cleaners” - machines designed to suck up the polluted seawater and run it through a purifier.

Speaking about his Ocean Therapy Solutions venture last month (May10), Costner said he “is prepared to go out and solve problems, not talk about them”.

The government estimates that the spill has already leaked between 20 million to 44 million gallons of oil to date.