The following article is the last in a series of four that was published this week. The subject is Jim Cobb and his patented oil spill techniques and equipment and the government's and oil industry's response to it.

It was a short time after the President’s Spill Commission meeting in Anchorage, Alaska, Jim recalls that another friend, Tim O’Donnell, contacted him and informed Jim that O’Donnell’s employer, Kevin Kennedy, was starting up a spill response company. Jim had met with Kennedy early in his patent process and had discussed some of the techniques and machinery included in the patent that Jim had laid out for oil spill collection.

Jim offered to join Kennedy’s team and to bring some of his ideas to the table. Kennedy informed Jim that his investors had no interest in bringing another person in.

Then, in July of 2010, the X-Prize Foundation announced its $1.4 Million Wendy Schmitt Oil Cleanup X-Challenge. “A short time after the oil spill contest became public, I received a call from Texas, the man on the phone said he was Shell Oil’s world oil spill response executive. After speaking with him for a bit, he encouraged me to enter the contest. I asked him for financial backing and informed him that I was just an inventor without any funding,” Jim remembers.

“Shell told me that I was just one of over 350 organizations that had asked for help, and that Shell had turned all of them down. I asked if any of those were patented, he replied ‘no.’ The dialogue went downhill from there and that was the end of that conversation,” Jim said.

Without backing, Cobb was unable to enter the contest, but continued to monitor the event. To his surprise, Kevin Kennedy would place in the top ten of the competition and would continue on to the final round. Cobb contacted Kennedy and once again offered to be a part of his team. Kennedy once again refused.

Cobb reviewed the equipment that Kennedy had entered into the competition. Jim discovered that it was the very same modified pump equipment that he had patented and discussed with Kennedy early in the patent process.

Kennedy was sent a notice through the Buchalter Nemer law firm to inform him that he was utilizing a patented system, Kennedy ignored the notice according to Cobb. Because of mechanical problems, Kennedy would only place in the top ten in the competition Jim recalled.

“But, he placed in a competition using only one page from my very thick book of innovations!” It was pointed out by Jim.

But even so, after all the years of work that Cobb has put into his ideas and patents to improve the way oil is recovered when spills occur, he points out that industry continues to use outdated ideas and processes to attempt to clean up spills and then reverts to dispersants to sink the oil when the old techniques fail once again.

Jim pointed to the recent sinking of the “Lone Star” in the Igushik River and the failure to contain the even minimal sheen emanating from that incident by Alaska Chadux. “They reported that they were unable to contain that trace of oil because of currents running through the area, it seems to say that the utilized technology hasn’t overcome that obstacle yet.” says Jim.

“Industry has yet to prove that they can contain an oil spill in ice conditions, yet they are pushing to operate off-shore in the arctic in those very same conditions and the government is accomodating them. That’s scary.” Jim related. “What starts as a localized spill in that region, if not cleaned up expeditiously, can quickly escalate into an international problem if the oil begins to circulate in the arctic current. The arctic is a fragile place, change there can have global implications.” Jim mentioned as an example the yellow discs called “drifters” released by UAF years ago studying the currents and oil spills in the artic. UAF released thousands of discs into the waters of Prudoe Bay only to have one reappear on the shores of Scotland in the Atlantic years later.

Jim went on to say that he had been optimistic following President Obama’s speeches in the aftermath of the BP disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. He felt at that time that perhaps positive change would occur from that incident. But now, he is not so sure and says that any change has been glacial at best.

Cobb says he understands now that the oil companies determine what they want to use for the cleanup and control the technology that is used. He relates how the industry controls the government through the financial control of politicians all the while isolating the media and the general public through the use of government agencies to hide the destruction of wildlife and the environment.

Cobb believes now that even though he holds the patents to technology that would help alleviate the destruction of ocean environments and lessen the impact of spills, industry will not respond to his offerings just as they have not responded in the past.

But, that fact won’t deter him he says. He states that he has spoken with organizations such as Earth Justice and other environmental groups and will continue to do so.

He will continue to talk until someone finally hears.

James Cobb is a life-long Alaskan and Bering Sea Yupik Eskimo who has fished in the Alaska fishing industry his entire life. He is also the owner of Retriever Environmental, a company dedicated to oil spill mitigation. He can be reached by phone at (907) 299-4767 or by email at retriever.environmental@gmail.com. The Alaska Native News gives full permission to re-post or re-print this article.

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