Timmy Couvillion's invention is helping contain a 14-year gulf oil spill
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/national/couvillion-gulf-oil-spill-containment/?utm_term=.4ee140550db0...A hole as wide as a basketball court had opened on the sea floor and thousands of gallons of Louisiana sweet crude gushed through. Amberjack, a popular sport fish, meandered through millions of toxic oil bubbles rising through the dark water. “We saw a volcano coming up,†Couvillion recalled in a recent interview. “I had no idea it was that bad.â€...
...His business, the Couvillion Group, conceived and designed a containment system weighing more than 200 tons, built it in shops all over southern Louisiana and pieced it together deep underwater. The system has recovered about 63,000 gallons since March, according to Couvillion — virtually eliminating a rainbow-colored slick that has stretched as far as 21 miles....
...In three months, his containment unit had brought 400 workers, three oceangoing ships and numerous barges to clean up the spill. But the most impressive thing, say Luttrell and others, is how the contraption was conceived, designed, built, shipped to the gulf, lowered overboard and pieced together by nine divers working eight-hour shifts at the bottom of the ocean....
...“What went right is that we’re collecting 1,200 gallons of oil a day that’s not going into the Gulf of Mexico,†Kennelley said. “Something had to be done, man.â€...