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Director James Cameron says BP turned down help offer

His comments came a day after he participated in a meeting at the EPA to 'brainstorm' solutions to the oil spill.

By Alexei Oreskovic, ReutersThu, Jun 03 2010 at 3:02 AM EST
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PROBLEM SOLVER: Cameron has worked extensively with robot submarines and is considered an expert in undersea filming. (Photo: ZUMA Press)
PALOS VERDES, Calif. - Film director and deep-sea explorer James Cameron said Wednesday that BP turned down his offer to help combat the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
 
"Over the last few weeks I've watched, as we all have, with growing horror and heartache, watching what's happening in the Gulf and thinking those morons don't know what they're doing," Cameron said at the All Things Digital technology conference.
 
Cameron, the director of "Avatar" and "Titanic," has worked extensively with robot submarines and is considered an expert in undersea filming. He did not say explicitly who he meant when he referred to "those morons."
 
His comments came a day after he participated in a meeting at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency headquarters in Washington to "brainstorm" solutions to the oil spill.
 
Cameron said he has offered to help the government and BP in dealing with the spill. He said he was "graciously" turned away by the British energy giant.
 
He said he has not spoken with the White House about his offer, and said that the outside experts who took part in the EPA meeting were now "writing it all up and putting in reports to the various agencies."
 
The film director has helped develop deep-sea submersible equipment and other underwater ocean technology for the making of documentaries exploring the wrecks of the ocean liner Titanic and the German battleship Bismarck some two miles below the surface.

'Really smart people'
Cameron suggested the U.S. government needed to take a more active role in monitoring the undersea gusher, which has become the worst oil spill in U.S. history.
 
"I know really, really, really smart people that work typically at depths much greater than what that well is at," Cameron said.
 
The BP oil spill off the U.S. Gulf Coast is located a mile below the surface.
 
While acknowledging that his contacts in the deep-sea industry do not drill for oil, Cameron said that they are accustomed to operating various underwater vehicles and electronic optical fiber systems.
 
"Most importantly," he added, "they know the engineering that it requires to get something done at that depth."
 
Among the key issues that Cameron said he is interested in helping the government with are methods of monitoring the oil leak and investigating it.
 
"The government really needs to have its own independent ability to go down there and image the site, survey the site and do its own investigation," he said.
 
"Because if you're not monitoring it independently, you're asking the perpetrator to give you the video of the crime scene," Cameron added.
 
Cameron made two documentaries about the wreck of the Titanic as well as the blockbuster 1997 movie "Titanic" using a small fleet of specially designed remotely operated underwater vehicles. He said his qualifications are not based on his background as a movie director but on his years of involvement in the deep-sea industry.
 
(Reporting by Alexei Oreskovic, with additional reporting by Jill Sergeant)
 
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Related Topics: Celebs, Gulf Oil Spill, Oceans, Offshore Drilling, Oil

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anonymous
Julez 03/01/2011 15:14 PM

I didn't hear about this?! Why did they not take his help? That would have been epic, I'm sure James Cameron has a bunch of cool submarines and special appliances that would have had that oil spilled cleaned up in a jiffy.

anonymous
Filipe Fernandes 07/03/2010 16:54 PM

I think it is time to BP to paid the bill, but for other parties to solve the problem. I am not sure that they will not try to hide the problem! i.e. temporary fix!

anonymous
Lazaro Arango 06/05/2010 13:22 PM

Obviously the brains running BP don't consider Mr. Cameron's knowledge suitable to the requirements of this tremendous operation. One has to be an idiot to think that BP is not eager to resolve this problem, or that is happy with this disaster.

anonymous
Helene Diana 06/04/2010 13:06 PM

What is the issue that James Cameron expertise was denied by BP. I do not see the oil issue going away with what the BP employees are doing, it seems to be getting bigger. If a person such as Cameron is as informative as he says with all the knowledge he has and people he knows regarding underwater procedures then why not ask him to help. I think our EPA needs to take charge of this awful thing that is happening in our waters and allow James Cameron and his crew to help. It may be BP's.... More

anonymous
Nicola 06/03/2010 13:51 PM

Just keeping you all updated. www.blackd.co.uk have been asked to submit their cleanup proposals ...

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