Crisis - how to solve them (Oil leaks and others)

To the Whitehouse, Washington, DC
Copies: CNN

Suggestion!

To enlist the creative genius of the US and global population set up a permanent emergency website (to be activated when necessary), anchored to the Whitehouse.gov website (everyone knows the address), and when activated to be instantly publicized by prior agreements with CNN, ABC, CBS etc etc

The purpose is to enlist the public and ask them to submit ANY idea (half-baked or otherwise) that might help resolve the crisis. 99.9% of the ideas submitted will be useless but just one might be the "duh - why didn't we think of that moment".

For instance - Oil spill crisis - Louisiana - Gulf of Mexico

Enlist the public's help in ideas to stop the flow, and collect the escaping oil.

I have two ideas, both silly, crackpot, harebrained ideas, that have probably already been thought of by others - but perhaps not.
These ideas with the federal resources available and with presumably no budget restrictions, and if scaled appropriately might provide a temporary solution to the problem

Harebrained idea #1
Oil rises from the seafloor - it is lighter than water. Using something like a "hot air balloon" (in essence a large sack) allow the rising oil to be collected within the balloon. When full tow away and process elsewhere.

Harebrained idea #2
Use large suction devices to suck up the escaping oil and direct it into oil tankers above. Dredging barges have high intensity suction capability for instance - and oil tanker capacity must be readily available

Just thinking…
Peter D. Revers