Billings Gazette: Montana company vies for helping clean up oil
SHEPHERD — Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., says he’ll do what he can to help a Montana company that is vying to play a role in cleaning up the oil released after the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon well in the Gulf of Mexico.
Tester met Friday with Bruce Kania, chief executive of Floating Islands International. The 11-year-old company has developed patented floating islands that purify polluted water by mimicking the properties of natural wetlands. A 250,000-square-foot floating island, Kania told Tester, could be harnessed to treat up to 1 million gallons of oil-fouled water per minute. Now that the flow from the Deepwater Horizon oil well has been contained and the gusher may soon be permanently plugged, public attention is turning to cleanup efforts throughout the Gulf of Mexico.
After taking a brief tour of one of the floating islands set up near Kania’s home, Tester said there has been no shortage of ideas on how to stop the gusher and clean up the mess.
“A lot of the ideas seem like pie in the sky,” Tester said. “But this one is real.”
If Floating Islands International is successful, Tester said, it would be an example of Montana innovation playing a role in cleaning up the nation’s worst environmental disaster.
Earlier this week Tester sent a letter asking the U.S. Coast Guard to consider using Floating Island International’s technology to assist in the cleanup.
The floating structures can act as “oil sponges” that help clean up the pollution. The Montana company has also developed a type of oil boom that can prevent oil from polluting wetlands, Tester’s letter says.
Floating Islands International has submitted three white papers to the Coast Guard explaining how its technology can be used in the cleanup. The Coast Guard recently contacted the company and plans to do further evaluation.
Posted on Friday, July 23rd, 2010 at 10:08 am.
