(AP Photo/U.S. Navy, Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Michael B. Watkins)

The gigantic oil giant BP had to have been happy to get some good press on October 20, the 6-month anniversary of the beginning one of the two worst oil spills in U.S. history. The explosion that killed 11 rig workers and destroyed the well in the Gulf of Mexico, which ultimately released about 140 million gallons of oil, creating a slick twice the size of New Jersey (about 16,000 square miles).

That study, out of Harvard U, determined that the microbes found naturally in briny areas on the seafloor are having a better-than-expected effect on cleaning up that slick, specifically the methane, one of the more worrying components. The Harvard researchers estimate that the microbes are working 10 to 100 times faster than projected in their little remediation project. One team member points out, however, that methane is one of several toxic components of crude oil. So BP’s not off the hook. But, really, was it ever going to be?

Here’s a larger synopsis of the study.

Here’s video of a protest installation against BP by street artist Banksy at Brighton, UK. In case you can’t see, the dolphin’s dragging a fishing net it’s caught in and riding a wave of oil coming from an oil drum marked “BP.”