MarkCermak
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TruckMount Builder Designs Machine To Clean Oil in Gulf
Largo, Florida -- John Hurtubise is no stranger to cleaning up big messes.
He's operated John's Custom Machines in Largo for more than 12 years, manufacturing carpet cleaning machines for vendors country-wide.
So, when he saw the images of oil soaked beaches and marshes splash across his television screen in April, he got to work on what he knows best... cleaning up.
"I figured there would be some way to be more effective and more efficient and that's what we believe we have, " Hurtubise told 10 News as he pointed toward the portable oil skimming machine he developed.
He developed the machine with shallow waters in mind.
"We just modified some of our equipment that we've been making for years to do the job we intended it to do," he added.
Hurtubise estimates his machine, which is small enough to be carted around by one person or put on a boat, can suck up to 2,000 gallons of oil in one hour, using just a half tank of gas.
"We believe very much in our product, but the main hurdle we knew to get over was to get the right people to look at it.," he said.
Hurtubise submitted his idea to BP and even spent a week in Louisiana to show off his product to clean-up crews.
While he says it got rave reviews, no one could buy the machine until BP approved.
"There just seems to be too much government paperwork and not enough common sense," he said.
He says he's made several phone calls, from BP to Governor Charlie Crist's office and got no where, so he called 10 News for help.
We called BP to find out where Hurtubise's machine is in the review process and we are told, he's made the cut of approved devices.
This means, clean-up crews can buy his device and use it, if they want to.
But, this was news to Hurtubise who says he hasn't heard anything.
Frustrated, he pointed toward the machine in his Largo shop, "It's sitting here, doing absolutely nothing."
BP says Hurtubise's skimmer is among 51,000 products and services in a catalog available to clean-up crews, but this is not where he's going to get the most attention.
That would be in the Alternative Response Technology database which a BP rep says they are moving his machine into.
He should get more attention in this database, a BP rep said.
Now, he sits and waits for a phone call, ready to send his machine where it's needed most.
If more are needed, that's not a problem either, he says.
"We could produce 10 or 12 of these per week," he said.
The machines run at about $10,000 to $15,000 each.
But, Hurtubise says it's not about the money. He just wants to play a role in helping the Gulf recover.
"This is our attempt at it," he said.
BP tells 10 News, since the spill, it's taken in more than 120,000 ideas from the public.
The ideas are then divided into two categories: source control and oil spill response.
BP says:
* 78,000 ideas have been submitted for source control (fixing the well). 190 made it through initial reviews and 30 made it on to the next level, however not one idea made it to final review.
* 42,200 ideas have been submitted for oil spill response (clean-up). 400 made it through the first level of review and 41 made it to final review. So far, 18 have been purchased for use, including the oil skimmer backed by Kevin Costner.
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