It's not often, in this blog, that I reach across the court, so to speak, to talk about environmentalism.

But in this case, I had to share.

Today's news brought with it word that actor/fishing enthusiast/outdoorsman/environmentalist Kevin Costner, along with his brother, scientist Dan Costner, has been given the OK by British Petroleum to test Costner Industries Nevada Corp.'s Ocean Therapy oil separator on the BP oil spill.

According to an article in today's New York Daily News, the Ocean Therapy high-speed centrifuge machine operates like the world's largest vacuum cleaner: it sits on a barge and sucks in large quantities of oil-polluted water, then separates out the oil and returns 97-percent clean water back into the ocean. BP has agreed to let the Costner brothers' company test the device on the spill.

In an interesting twist, Costner told a news conference earlier today that he originally purchased the technology from the U.S. government, and has since spent $24 million in its private-sector development over the past 15 years.

Let's hope it works. Something needs to, and fast.