While testifying before a House Committee on Science and Technology on Capitol Hill, Kevin Costner let it be known that he’s partnered with a major marine transportation company to develop a vessel specialized in oil spill recovery.

“I left a meeting with Edison Chouest, the largest oil servicer in the Gulf,” Costner told the committee. “With our machine in mind, they proposed designing a vessel that would fundamentally change the world’s approach to oil recovery. Together, we envision a world-class 1st responder vessel that can be strategically deployed anywhere around the world.”

Costner also said that BP has already placed orders for several of his centrifuge machines.

What does all this mean? Besides becoming an even richer man (whose heart is in the right place), Costner’s Ocean Therapy Solutions and CINC Industries are about to become major players in the oil recovery industry. The entire operation till now appears to have been fully funded from Costner’s own pocket — but I wouldn’t be surprised if investment opportunities flow in from around the world to keep the development of this tech on the cutting edge. One look at the Gulf situation confirms just how badly we need it. At meeting, the actor summed up the grim reality perfectly saying,

“It was hard for me to fathom how we as a nation could engineer nuclear power and put a man on the moon, but somehow not muster the technology to clean up an oil disaster of our own making.”

Exactly!