Hollywood actor Kevin Costner has stepped forward to help with the Gulf oil spill caused by the April 20 explosion of the BP-operated Deepwater Horizon offshore oil rig.

According to Billy Nungesser, president of Southern Louisiana’s Plaquemines Parish, Costner and his scientist brother Dan, will be in the region to demonstrate a device designed to separate oil and water. Records from the EPA indicate the Costner brothers have promoted an oil-water filtration system in the past through their company Costner Industries Nevada Corporation. Details regarding the device are expected to be revealed tomorrow.

“Sometimes it takes a star to come in with their money and time to make a difference,” Nungesser said at a press conference held by Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal.

The actor is also planning to donate an astounding $26 million toward the cleanup effort.

[Editor's note: Holy shit! That has either got to be some kind of record for a donation by a celeb for natural disaster relief -- or a misunderstanding regarding the placement of a decimal point. I'm going with the latter.]

More to come…

UPDATE: Turns out, that $26 million is the amount that Costner has invested in the oil filtration tech over the last 15 years.