Actor Kevin Costner told Congress on Wednesday that he has a solution to ocean oil spills: a machine that separates oil from water. Costner said he has spent more than $20 million for the patent and development of the machines since 1993 because he was inspired by the Exxon-Valdez oil spill in 1989. 'There's been some question as to why I'm here,' Costner told the House Energy and Environment subcommittee. 'I want to assure everyone here it's not because I heard a voice in a cornfield,' a reference to 'Field of Dreams.' In that 1989 film, Costner played the role of a farmer who turned his cornfield into a baseball field. Costner said he had a hard time initially getting anyone interested in buying the device and that tests performed for the Coast Guard, private companies, and other government agencies drew no response. 'My enthusiasm for the machine was met with apathy,' said Costner. That has recently changed. The machines -- marketed by Ocean Therapy Solutions -- are like vacuum cleaners that suck up the oily water and separate the pollutants through a centrifuge. BP recently put in an order for 32 of the machines to help clean up the Gulf of Mexico, according to OTS CEO John Houghtaling, who said the 32 machines could process 6 million gallons of water a day. Costner said 'that as long as the oil industry profits from the sea, they have an obligation to protect it.' The actor told the House panel that the cleaning devices 'should be on every ship transporting oil, they should be on every derrick, they should be in every harbor.' He stressed the economic importance of having effective cleaning processes, noting that the April 20 BP oil spill has led to a moratorium on offshore drilling and put many workers in the oil industry on the Gulf Coast out of work. He said he hoped that a device like his might convince the government to lift the temporary ban. 'There's 33 platforms that are shut down,' said Costner. 'We can put Americans back to work, and bring into the 21st century the technology of oil spill recovery.' After the hearing, Pat Smith, chief operating officer of OTS, told reporters that recent tests have shown that the machines can separate the water and the oil with 99.9 percent efficiency. 