Kevin Costner: Hollywood's Latest Mr. Fixit for Oil Spill

Hollywood star testifies on the Hill about how his water-purification system can aid in cleaning up the Gulf

With plumes of oil filling up the Gulf of Mexico daily, Kevin Costner is hopeful of restoring the area to a thriving water world once again.

The Oscar winner  went to Washington, D.C., today and testified before the House Energy and Environment subcommittee on ways in which a certain technology he's developed that can help clean up the BP gusher, the largest environmental disaster in U.S. history.

"I'm not here because I heard a voice in a cornfield," Costner cracked, in in nod to Field of Dreams.

But can he do something about this ocean of muck?

In a prepared statement that quickly turned serious, the actor-director then chastised the government and oil industry for "fumbling" their response to the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe and failing to think big and come up with innovative solutions to plug the well and deal with the aftermath.

"I come before you as a discouraged U.S. citizen and an entrepreneur with a partial solution to the tragedy unfolding in the Gulf," said Costner.

He then talked about his baby: a water-purification system that he's invested $26 million of his own money and which, he said, could help separate out the toxic sludge from the waters of the Gulf with the aid of centrifugal force.

"What I can provide is a technology that is available immediately, a technology that will allow rigs to resume operation and put people back to work," Cosnter said, hailing it as a "partial solution" to the 50-day-old mess.

The 55-year-old Costner also told the committee that everyone has a stake in the matter.

"We are all at fault here. It's just too easy to blame BP," he noted, adding that he doesn't expect the device he's touting to be a fix-all, but it can certainly be a stopgap that also could be used for the thousands of small spills that occur every year.

The No Way Out star isn't the only celeb offering their services.

Last week, Titanic helmer James Cameron gathered together scientists, engineers and submersible experts for a private meeting in D.C. brainstorming ways to halt the deep water leak.