RUSH: Stephen Baldwin has called, of the famous Baldwin acting family. Stephen Baldwin is on with us now. Stephen, thanks for the call very much. I’m happy to have you here. Hello.
STEPHEN BALDWIN: Hey, Rush, good to talk to you. Big hello from my compadre Kevin McCullough who you know I work with.
RUSH: Absolutely.
STEPHEN BALDWIN: And I’m just calling to say I have very serendipitously been down in New Orleans in the last three weeks. I started filming, for about five days, a documentary titled, ‘The Will to Drill.’ Coincidentally, while I was there, the same individuals who are funding the documentary are assisting Kevin Costner in this centrifuge technology that he and his brother have developed for ten years, and they have been testing it successfully for the last two weeks, and most of the presidents of the parishes down in that area along the coastline — particularly Billy Nungesser who you’ve seen a lot on the news, Rush; he’s the president of the Plaquemines Parish area, and he is — very, very eager for the approval for these centrifuge machines which have successfully been pulling the oil out of the water to be implemented as soon as possible.
RUSH: Now, but, Stephen, really, we’re talking about hundreds of thousands of gallons here. How big is Costner’s centrifuge?
STEPHEN BALDWIN: Well, the largest version of it — there’s three sizes, but the largest version of it — which is called the V20 machine, can do 200 gallons per minute and over a daily time frame it can do 200,000 gallons. So if you had enough of these suckers in the water, Rush, at least it’s doing something to stop the oil that’s out there coming towards the shore.
RUSH: Now, is Costner being stalled in his efforts to do this?
STEPHEN BALDWIN: Well, I wouldn’t say that he’s being stalled. I would say that probably there is the typical red tape in a situation like this where everybody’s looking to be sure that nobody makes a decision that they get in trouble for later.
RUSH: Well, now, I read today there’s a story that from one of the news agencies that BP is testing Costner’s centrifuge even as we speak.
STEPHEN BALDWIN: That’s correct. That’s correct. They have been involved in the testing process.
RUSH: Did the Obama administration approve this? Because we heard in the press conference today, Stephen, that BP doesn’t do anything without getting the approval of the Obama administration and Thad Allen of the Coast Guard. So did Kevin Costner get permission from the Obama administration, MMS, or the Coast Guard to take this to BP and try it?
STEPHEN BALDWIN: I really should say that I’m not completely sure.
RUSH: Come on, Stephen, we know. (laughing)
STEPHEN BALDWIN: (laughing)
RUSH: I’m sure Obama’s never heard of this.
STEPHEN BALDWIN: No, no, no. Oh, I’m sure Obama’s never heard of it, either, but to answer your question: I think the answer to that goes in line with what you’re saying. There are — along with Kevin Costner, there are — multiple solutions potentially that are being presented to getting the oil out of the water before it destroys the marshes and continues to do the damage it’s going to do and impact the coastline and Louisiana — and it’s heading towards Florida, and the sooner they do something to at least try to get the oil out of the water before it comes to shore, that’s obviously a solution, isn’t it?
RUSH: It is, if it works. Now, has Kevin Costner showed this or demonstrated to the governor, Bobby Jindal?
STEPHEN BALDWIN: The governor is very aware of this technology. All of the presidents of the parishes are, too. The presidents of the parishes, Rush, they want this machine in the water now. So Costner is there. I think he’s doing some more tests over the next two or three days — which, again, I repeat, have already been successful. Now it’s just a matter of going through whatever the process is of who talks to who and who says yes and, blah, blah, blah.
RUSH: Well, that’s Obama. We heard it at a press conference today. How many centrifuges does Kevin Costner have? These things, how long does it take to produce one?
STEPHEN BALDWIN: He could produce four under the influence larger machines per month with the production that he has available to him now. But he has over 30 machines right now, standing at the ready, ready to go in the water. The whole thing is in place. It’s ready to go. Just waiting to see when they’re going to move forward.
RUSH: Well, we’ll keep a sharp eye on it. I appreciate your heads up on this. It’s an AP story that says BP is testing it even today, as we speak. And the headline of the story is: ‘Gulf Oil Spill News: Costner’s Centrifuge to be Tested by BP.’
STEPHEN BALDWIN: Yeah.
RUSH: So it’s interesting. Tell me about your documentary, The Will to Drill. What’s this about? It sounds self-explanatory, but what is it?
STEPHEN BALDWIN: Well, The Will to Drill — and the website is the same. It’s WillToDrill.com.
RUSH: Yeah.
STEPHEN BALDWIN: And basically, Rush, it’s my goal to go down there and with everything that’s happened after Three Mile Island and the regulatory that was passed after that and then after Exxon Valdez and the regulatory that never happened after that, I’m putting together a documentary that — as ironic as this may be — is a nonpartisan documentary that really is more about: When are we as a culture and a people and a society going to come together and individually start to take on the responsibility to create the change in the future to be more prepared when these things happen? Here we are, Rush, as you’ve been explaining. All these people in Louisiana and Florida are standing there waiting for this horrific outcome, and they can’t do a thing about it. Well, The Will to Drill is how do we look towards the future? How do we come together? How do we make the changes?
RUSH: Well, you said it just a moment ago in the run-up to the explanation you just gave me. Essentially oil has become politicized, and it shouldn’t be. Energy should not have a political component to it. But the left politicizes everything, so oil has become a dirty word. Oil companies are dirty, so there’s a political obstacle that has to be overcome before we get anywhere near solving a problem like this.
STEPHEN BALDWIN: Absolutely.
RUSH: This ought to not be a political component at all.
STEPHEN BALDWIN: Well, listen, in my documentary, I want to present the case, Rush, that simply no one is exempt from the usage of oil. From the cell phone you talk on to the clothes on our backs, oil touches everything. The question in my documentary becomes: What can we do in the future to come together to create the change to be more prepared for these accidents and these horrible things that are going to happen.
RUSH: Well, I understand that, but the thing is they don’t happen that much, considering. We have more spillage from tankers transporting this stuff across the globe than we do have from wells — and we have to transport it on tankers so much because the politics of this prevents us from drilling. A lot of people don’t understand just how much oil is involved in every aspect of life. Your clothes, your trash bags, practically everything. I don’t know. The things that are made with derivatives from oil would stun you. Well, Stephen, look, I gotta run. I’m glad you called. Good luck with your documentary. But, you know, something? This is just my little bugaboo. Sometimes ‘coming together with people’ is not possible because some people you want to join with are never going to join you. They just have to be defeated. Like the left. I don’t want to come together with them. They don’t compromise on anything. Everything is political to them. Oil, energy, that’s a matter of survival — and survival ought not be political. I’m glad you called. Good luck.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: By the way, Kevin Costner does — I was looking into this during the break — Kevin Costner is spending $24 million of his own money on these centrifuges. BP is testing them right now. He does need permission from the federal government to use the machine. He will need permission and he is working with state and local officials in Louisiana, the New Orleans area, and there are locals down there trying to raise money to help defray some of the costs, because they want some action. They want some action. They can see the slick getting closer and closer, and in some areas it has already hit, and they want some action taken. They’re not getting anything other than a bunch of meetings and works-in-progress, a bunch of process stuff and finger pointing and blame, which is all oriented toward the political end of this.
Meanwhile, we got the State-Controlled Media running around and assuring us that Obama cares. I’m just telling you, if they have to tell us that, then it must mean that there’s a question about it. And the reason there’s a question about it is because he has appeared to be unconcerned, he’s appeared to be aloof. He’s going on fundraisers and eating caviar, $17,600 a plate fundraiser at the Getty house and the opening hors d’oevre was caviar, while this is happening. And you know the kind of grief that Bush got for just flying over the place. In fact, Bush went to a fundraiser event in California when Katrina hit and he caught all kinds of hell for it. And to be fair, Obama’s catching his own share of grief about it, even from his own side now. So the purpose of the press conference today was say, (imitating Obama) ‘We’re on top of this, just plug the hole. BP can’t do a thing without talking to us first. We got a Nobel winning physicist working on this. He works with atoms and everything like that so we’re gonna fix the atoms and oil. My little girl said, ‘Daddy, did you plug the hole yet?’ while I was shaving.’
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Madison, Wisconsin, Mike, great to have you on the program, sir. Hello.
CALLER: Hello, Rush. It is an honor.
RUSH: Great to have you, sir.
CALLER: Great to be on. I have a theory as to why the Obama administration is dragging their feet on some of these solutions, i.e., Governor Jindal and perhaps the centrifuges, is because if these work too well this will take away all the fodder that the left has in fearmongering future spills.
RUSH: Well, you know, normally I would want to pooh-pooh a comment like that, but I can’t because every disaster is an opportunity for these people. They can’t wait for the next Katrina to come along because all these disasters beg for what? Federal action, which requires more federal power, and this is what these people are all about, is securing more federal power for leftists when they are running the government. And Costner, whatever he’s doing, cannot be said to be a government project. It’s a private sector project. And if a private sector guy comes up with a solution to a problem like this that has an immediate application, even before the well is plugged, has an immediate application to skim some of the oil off so that it never reaches shore, at least an effort could be made, then what does that do? It illustrates the relative worthlessness of the federal government in things like this. I think you’ve got a point, Mike. Sadly, I think you got an excellent point.