At the South Pole, and in Alaska, this might include warming the soil, because at temperatures below freezing Pseudomonas work about as well as squirt guns. Other bacterial boosts include adding oxygen to soil to stimulate the aerobic creatures, and mixing in waste water to provide other nutrients. After the different mixtures within Tumeo's 12 boxes have reacted for about a year, he should know under what conditions Pseudomonas work best in the Antarctic. If the bacteria work there, he said, they should work anywhere. As amazing as fuel-eating bacteria are, they can't be counted on to clean up the next big oil spill, Tumeo said.
Crude oil has components too thick, waxy and complicated for the bacteria to handle.
Even though many fuel-stained soils have been cleaned by bacteria, the number of factors effecting their performance makes bioremediation an inexact, though promising, science. But, alas, it's not that simple.