Kevin Costner's Oil-Spill Effort Rooted In Passion For Outdoors

NEW YORK (CBS) Actor Kevin Costner is seeing the fruition of almost 15 years of work this week as BP begins to use a machine he helped to develop to clean up the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Something akin to a giant vacuum cleaner, the Ocean Therapy Solutions devices suck up oil-contaminated water, separate the oil out and send purified water back into the sea.

Pictures: Kevin Costner
Pictures: The Greening of Hollywood

At a press conference Wednesday in Louisiana, the 55-year-old actor explained how he purchased the new technology from the government and invested $24 million in its private-sector development.

An avid outdoorsman and fishing enthusiast, Costner said it was the damage done in the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska's Prince William Sound that prompted him to act.

Costner, a skilled equestrian, raises horses on a California ranch he and his wife own. He also golfs, hunts and fishes. He once worked as a deep-sea fisherman before he made his name as an actor.

He is among several A-list actors who have publicly championed environmental causes in recent years.