Hollywood at the rescue of BP

The leak started more than six weeks ago following an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil drilling platform that killed 11 rig workers.
An estimated 12,000-19,000 barrels gush up daily from the seabed, posing a major threat to the Gulf of Mexico's flora and fauna.
BP, the owner of the rig about 80 kilometers (50 miles) off the Louisiana coast, has tried with little success to stem the flow of oil.
It says it is now managing to gather about 10,000 barrels of oil a day using a special plugging device attached to the head of the drill to siphon oil up to surface ships.

Some movie celebrities share their experience to fight BP oil spill :

• BP buys into OTS's oil spill clean up plan, orders 32 separators

One of the weirdest parts of the BP oil spill is the work that actor Kevin Costner is doing to help clean up the spill. Except that it's really not that weird at all.

We just weren't that aware of the work Costner has been doing on oil cleanup work with his Costner Industries company and Ocean Therapy Solutions since his interest was piqued after the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989.

After all this time developing and promiting his oil separation devices, OTS now has some good news to report: BP is "excited" about the potential for Costner's centrifuges to help get some of BP's mess out of the Gulf water.

The excitement was realized with BP's order of 32 of the machines, some of which can clean 200 gallons a minute and extract 2,000 barrels of oil per day.

According to OTS and ABC News, Costner spent $20 million of his own money to develop the separators which apparently leave the "water 99 percent clean of crude."

• BP calls for Russian mini-subs to tackle oil spill

The British oil giant BP wants Russian mini-subs to help in eliminating the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Izvestia daily said on Monday 7.

Anatoly Sagalevich of Russia's Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, which owns the Mir submersibles, was quoted as saying that talks with BP officials had started soon after the accident.

Sagalevich told the Izvestia daily the Mir mini-subs could stop the leakage, but it would take some time.

Sagalevich said the Mirs would be the most effective since they are operated by people on board rather than remotely, allowing for a more thorough investigation.
"Visual research by specialists is very important, regardless of the fact that more than 50 remote-controlled underwater robots are working at the scene of the accident delivering the images from the seabed to the surface," the paper quoted the researcher as saying.
He added, however, that the depths involved could hinder the submersibles' operation.

Last week the U.S. filmmaker James Cameron suggested to BP that Russian mini-subs Mir help to tackle oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, but the oil major rejected the idea.
Cameron, the director of the two highest-grossing films of all time, Avatar and Titanic, worked with the Mir mini-subs while filming in the latter 1997. The advanced deep-water equipment, used during an expedition to the sunken liner, helped to film the ship's destroyed interiors and provided the movie with more authentic sets.

Explaining BP's dismissal, Sagalevich said last week that "we are Russians, and if we go to the Gulf of Mexico with Mirs and do something there, the Americans would be appalled."

• Plan to hire unemployed veterans to build Gulf oil spill clean-up boats
  

On June 8th, 2010, Congressman Bob Filner (San Diego, CA), Chairman of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, will announce a plan to create a program to hire unemployed Veterans to build specially designed boats with patented technologies designed for cleaning up oil spills, for help with the Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster.
The technology is patented by a French company, ECOCEANE (video), which is connected to the family of actor David Charvet. Charvet is a member of the Blue Seals Board of Directors.

Also to be announced is a mission to bring the Blue Seals rapid response team of conservation experts, Charvet and his fiancee actress Brooke Burke to Louisiana to aid in the Gulf Coast Oil Spill cleanup efforts. The crew will fly a specially modified Albatross seaplane to areas of the Louisiana coast to document the devastation to the coastal environment.

The Blue Seals is a division of the non-profit organization Blue Rage Films, and embraces the mission that healthy oceans are essential for our collective survival. The Blue Seals is a globally active network that was formed to be a rapid response force to environmental emergencies, and to bring together conservation activists.