The Will to Drill

New York, NY – (May 14, 2010) –  Filmmaker, Author, Radio Host Stephen Baldwin arrived in New Orleans on Monday, May 3rd to take meetings regarding a potential feature film project based on an original screenplay he had written.  After two days of discussions, he found the majority of his conversations with the people he came to meet and people in the town were about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and its potential impact on New Orleans and the State of Louisiana.  His mind immediately transitioned to working on what has now become an even greater priority.

Baldwin, his media company XtreMEDIA, and his crew quickly embarked upon the production of a documentary entitled THE WILL TO DRILL.   The film is to be a partisan exploration of the events that transpired after the explosion of the off shore oil rig Deepwater Horizon and all that has transpired since.  Many are considering this to be an event that could be the worst environmental disaster to ever impact The American coast line.   Baldwin quickly launched into action bringing in a team of camera operators and headed straight to the ‘ground zero’ of the situation in Plaquemines Parrish, New Orleans.

Upon his arrival, Baldwin connected with Parrish President Billy Nungesser to start the process of understanding what the people of New Orleans were going through.  Much to his surprise he learned that the magnitude of the spill was far greater than he had heard.   Baldwin states, “In learning what the locals were going through, I immediately felt compelled to want to help and get involved in creating more awareness.”   During this process Baldwin filmed all the while – interviewing local shrimpers, oysterman and fisherman.  Word quickly got out about Baldwin’s presence in the area and his project.   Soon after that Baldwin was invited to join Louisiana Governor, Bobby Jindal, aboard a Black Hawk Military helicopter with a contingency of other invited guests for a viewing of the marsh lands that had already been damaged.  He was overwhelmed by the amount of oil spanning out for miles over the surface of the Gulf of Mexico.

Simultaneously, Actor Kevin Costner was visiting the area as he was presenting his technology that has the ability to separate oil from water in an event such as this.   Baldwin was able to capture this with his cameras showing a successful test of Costner’s technology.

Consulting on the documentary is veteran independent motion picture distributor Paul Cohen, Director of the Torchlight Program at The Florida State University’s College of Motion Picture Arts.  The College has agreed to lend its full support to Baldwin’s efforts as well.  Baldwin and Cohen currently are in enroute to the Cannes International Film Festival to meet with various film makers and distributors for THE WILL TO DRILL.  Cohen will also be representing the Film School to celebrate it’s graduates whose film “The Myth of the American Sleep Over” that has been selected for Critics Week.  Cohen was recently involved with the marketing of multiple independent motion pictures and most recently the Oscar winning documentary “The Cove.”

For continued coverage please log onto www.thewilltodrill.com.

Don’t we all love it when Celebrities roll up their sleeves and get involved? Kudos to Kevin Costner and his scientist brother, as well as Stephen Baldwin who both seem to be demonstrating their care for the Gulf Coasters by rallying help for the on-going spill crisis.

MSNBC: “Waterworld” star Kevin Costner has arrived in the Louisiana bayou— this time sporting oil clean-up technology, not gills.

The multimillionaire Hollywood actor, best known for his roles in “Dances with Wolves,” “Field of Dreams” and “The Untouchables,” is reportedly offering local officials technology designed to help save delicate marshes from the oil that is gushing from a broken well in the Gulf of Mexico.

The actor has diversified into environmental technologies, apparently in collaboration with his brother Dan, a scientist, through a company called Costner Industries Nevada Corp. He has told reporters in the past that he has invested $26 million to develop green technology.

“Sometimes it takes a star to come in with their money and time to make a difference,” Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser told reporters Wednesday at a press conference in the fishing town of Venice, deep in the marshlands.

Based on patents issued to the company, Costner Industries focuses on centrifuge technology that can separate oil and water. The company, which has addresses in Nevada and Texas, could not immediately be reached for comment.

“Kevin Costner got down here yesterday,” said Kurt Fromherz, public affairs officer for the parish confirmed on Thursday, though he could not provide details on what Costner was offering.

He said Costner became interested in the area through his friend, actor and director Stephen Baldwin, who Fromherz said is working on a documentary in Plaquemines Parish. Baldwin is the fourth and youngest of the famous show business Baldwins, after brothers Alec, Daniel and William.

We’re not sure if it would work or not, but watching the bowls sitting on the counter during this display sure seem to make a darn good case for it:

Did you know that another large oil rig sank this past week? Off South America’s coastal Venezuela on Thursday. These make the two closest oil rig accidents in the history of oil drilling. REUTERS has documented a very helpful time-line of the major oil spills in the modern era:

 May 13 (Reuters) - An offshore gas drilling platform sank
off the coast of Venezuela on Thursday, less than a month after
a rig sank off the coast of Louisiana and left thousands of
barrels of crude oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico.

 The accidents, particularly the Horizon spill, may lead to
more scrutiny over offshore and deepwater oil drilling, which
many energy analysts consider crucial to the world's future
supply of crude oil and natural gas.

 Following is a timeline of selected major offshore platform
and drilling accidents in the global oil and gas industry.

 1969 -- A blowout at Platform A offshore near Santa
Barbara, California led to a spill estimated at up to 100,000
barrels of crude oil, fouling the California coastline. The
spill led to broad opposition to offshore drilling near
California, and later helped spur the creation of the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency.

 1979 -- The Pemex-operated Ixtoc I offshore well in the
Campeche Bay of Mexico suffered a blow out, eventually spewing
up to 3 million barrels of crude oil in the worst offshore
spill in North American history.

 1980 -- Alexander Kielland, a floating platform for
off-duty workers, capsized in the North Sea, killing 123
people.

 1982 -- The Ocean Ranger semi-submersible drilling rig sank
off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, while operating the
Hibernia oil field. The accident, which occurred during a huge
storm, killed 84 crew members.

 1984 -- A blowout on the Enchova platform operated by
Brazilian state oil company Petrobras in the Campos Basin
caused an explosion and a fire that led to the death of dozens
of workers.

 1988 -- The Piper Alpha platform exploded and sank while
drilling in the North Sea in a field operated by Occidental
Petroleum, killing 167 workers.

 1989 -- U.S. drilling ship Seacrest capsized during a
typhoon in the Gulf of Thailand, killing more than 90 people.

 1995 -- Thirteen people were killed and many injured in an
explosion on a Mobil oil rig off coast of Nigeria.

 2001 -- The P-36 offshore production platform operated by
Brazilian state oil company Petrobras (PETR4.SA)(PBR.N) was
rocked by explosions killed 11 people. It sank off the coast of
Rio de Janeiro five days later, spilling some of the 10,000
barrels of fuel and crude it was storing into the Atlantic.

 2005 -- A fire destroyed the Mumbai High North processing
platform off India's west coast, affecting 123,000 bpd of crude
production, or 15 percent of the country's domestic output, and
killing 12 people. The platform was owned by ONGC.

 2007 -- During stormy weather, the Usumacinta rig collided
with the Kab-101 platform off the coast of Mexico, causing fuel
leaks and killing 21 workers who tried to flee in life rafts in
one of state oil firm Pemex's worst accidents.

2009 -- The West Atlas mobile drilling rig leaked oil and
gas into the East Timor Sea from the Montara oil field near
Australia, and later sank after a fire. The spill continued for
months before relief wells were drilled to plug the leak,
depositing millions of gallons of crude into an ecologically
sensitive marine ecosystem.

 April 20, 2010 -- Explosion and fire on Transocean Ltd's
(RIG.N) (RIGN.S) drilling rig Deepwater Horizon licensed to BP
kills 11 workers. The undersea well has been gushing roughly
5,000 barrels (210,000 gallons/795,000 liters) per day. The oil
spill could become the worst in U.S. history and threatens an
environmental catastrophe along the U.S. Gulf Coast.
[ID:nSPILL]

 May 13, 2010 -- A Venezuelan natural gas exploration rig
sank in the Caribbean sea early on Thursday. All 95 workers on
the rig were rescued and there was no gas leak, the government
said. [ID:nN13256518]