the question would be how does this thing deal w/choppy/unpredictable seas?
I agree BP shouldn't themselves be obligated to directly support this kind of testing right now. But if they had been contributing to research groups along the way, wouldn't we expect those groups would: 1. very much like to try their latest on a real problem 'in the wild' 2. be given latitude by to do exactly that by BP ?
Granted, no-one should/would rely on technology in testing to do the cleanup, but it appears the alternative to letting researchers have-at deep-sea slicks is to do nothing. So why not let researchers have at it?
And wouldn't the net result of all that be pretty much exactly what was advocated, just with a few layers of indirection?
One thing obvious from the gulf spill, is that recovery technology has not kept pace with deep-water drilling technology. The time-lag involved in development & engineering if left to the free market is a huge externality. We don't want accident recovery to lag further and further behind as oil drilling goes into more extreme and environmentally sensitive environments. (And you know that it will!)
contribute to a general R&D fund or something like that.
They need to do more than they have been.