Oil spill latest: Kevin Costner's oil filtration tech

As oil spews out into gulf of Mexico and approaches the delicate wetlands that house precious pelicans and other wildlife, Hollywood actor Kevin Costner has come forward and suggested that his company Ocean Therapy Solutions has the technology to siphon up to 97 percent of the crude currently in the Gulf.

Kevin Costner was in New Orleans last week, giving the media an insight into his and his scientist brothers' oil siphoning invention, something that Costner has ploughed $26 million into after being horrified by the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989.

"The machine works on the principle of centrifugal force. In this case, diesel fuel and water enter the machine together and are jettisoned separately, with water on one side and diesel on the other. The machine will clean the water up to 97 percent," officials from Ocean Therapy Solutions told Gulf station WDSU.

Added Costner: "I just am really happy that this has come to the light of day. I'm very sad about why it is, but this is why it was developed, and like anything that we all face as a group, we face it together."

Ocean Therapy Solutions boasts five oil collecting machines, ranging from collecting five gallons a minute to 200 gallons a minute. BP, the petroleum company responsible for the spill is currently working with Ocean Therapy Solutions to get one of the machines into the water as quickly as possible.

Oil spill latest - Mile-long tube collecting less oil

BP has tried several other techniques to contain the spill, ranging from a giant dome to robotic submarines. All attempts have proven unsuccessful until last week, when a mile-long tube called a RITT was thrust into the gaping riser pipe, successfully diverting the majority of the leaking oil and gas up to a vessel on the surface, a mile above.

However, new estimates are proving that the RITT may not be collecting as much oil as first anticipated. BP spokesman John Curry told The Associated Press on Sunday that the siphon collected some 57,120 gallons of oil within the past 24 hours. BP said Friday that the tube was sucking up an average of about 92,400 gallons of oil a day.

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