Kevin Costner — the impresario behind the so-bad-it's-good fable of environmental destruction "Waterworld" — is stepping forward with a new Gulf-cleaning plan.

Former Waterworld star Kevin Costner has invested more than $24 million on developing a massive centrifuge that can be dropped into Lousiana's deadly oil slick and separate the water from oil, storing petro-blob in tanks.

It is, however, all about as unlikely as the plot of Waterworld. A famous actor angered by the Exxon Valdez spill teams up with his scientist brother to come up with a cleanup solution, knowing it’ll be needed someday. Fifteen years later, oil gushes out of the seabed and into the Gulf as experts watch their deep sea robots and giant underwater domes fail to contain the spill. Suddenly, the actor and his scientists leap to the rescue with their new invention: a massive centrifuge for separating oil and water.

Costner and his business partners at Ocean Therapy Solutions have been giving demonstrations of the device in the South Louisiana area. Costner describes the machine as "robust. Works at the speed that someone talked about, 200,000 gallons a minute. But it takes 99 percent of the oil."

Area political leaders like the sound of that. St. Bernard Parish President Craig Taffaro told New Orleans NBC affiliate WDSU that he'll be pushing the federal government to "at least get a demonstration out in the open water to put this to a test. ... If it shows what it shows here on land, then we may have found ourselves another tool for the tool box." Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nunguesser agreed, saying that "with these odds and percentages, it only makes sense. Let's give it a try."

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