Kevin Costner Leads Pack of 23,500 With Gulf Oil Cleanup Ideas

May 27 (Bloomberg) -- Last week in the Gulf of Mexico, actor Kevin Costner sparked headlines when he unveiled a device that appears to do a fine job of cleaning oil out of water. Some commentators seized the opportunity to make “Waterworld” jokes, but BP Plc took his machine seriously enough to be testing it this week.

“This is why Costner is so passionate about it,” said fellow actor Stephen Baldwin on the telephone. “Because it really works.” Baldwin, who is producing-directing a documentary about the oil catastrophe titled “Will to Drill,” filmed the demonstration.

Costner has spent $24 million of his own cash over the past 15 years to finance development of the device, which uses centrifugal force to spin the crude out of the water.

Estimating the size of the slick has been problematic, not least because the often-cited “5000 barrels a day” gushing from the sea floor might be low-balling the actual figure by 90,000 barrels, according to congressional testimony heard last week.