Speakers

Kevin Costner is an actor, entrepreneur, and co-founding partner of Ocean Therapy Solutions & WestPac Resources. In 1993, he bought a patent from the Department of Energy for a small centrifuge device he believed had the power to separate oil and water at large volumes. Without the help of outside investors or government grants, he invested over $20 million dollars in research and development to scale up a tool that he hoped could prevent the recurring images of beaches and animals drenched in oil, and serve as a first line of defense in oil spill clean up. After rigorous testing, BP has ordered 32 of the machines, which can each separate 210,000 gallons of oil and water per day with both oil and water outputs 99.9 percent pure, to help clean up the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.