Homegrown Ideas for Plugging the Gulf Oil Leak

HOUSTON - For engineers and executives at BP, the folder marked "Labeoc 675" is another idea, submitted by another average citizen, anxious to see the end of the oil spill in the gulf.

But for Robert Kostelny, "Labeoc 675" is what will do the job.

"I refer to it as a hydrodynamic compression device. (It's a) fancy name for a plug," said Kostelny of his own idea to plug the leak.

Using a drawing of a blowout preventer and sketch of his design on a plastic transparency, Kostelny, a former deep-sea diver who used to repair underwater equipment, showed us how his idea would work.

"Heres the top of the flange and it will meet right down there and there will be a rubber seal underneath," said Kostelny. "Itll make contact and that's when we can start securing these hold down bolts on the rods."

Since the deepwater horizon blew up on April 20, BP has been flooded with ideas from people just hoping to help them plug the hole.

Salon owners sent in left over hair.

Others posted ideas on you tube.

But after emailing top executives for the oil companies involved in the cleanup, Kostelny drove five and a half hours overnight to hand deliver his proposal to engineers in Robert, Louisiana.

"Its our country," he said. "We need to stop this thing."

Kostelny says his design would require 24 hours of non-stop work from welders and engineers. It's not a bad time table if it works, considering it's been more than 40 days since the oil started gushing.