Earthworms can clean up oil! Hooray!!!

Well not exactly earthworms per se, but the microbes that they excrete can break down petroleum chemicals in the soil. Pretty Cool eh?

Everyone with oil spills get your grove on to soilfoodweb.org for info on how to get a lot of this earthworm Castings. Make sure you have Red Wiggler Earthworms. They're the best.

Here's an abstract about the castings breaking down the soil (big thank you to Radical Reference for providing the abstract)

"Effects of Lumbricus terrestris, Allolobophora chlorotica and Eisenia fetida on microbial community dynamics in oil-contaminated soil" From the journal Soil Biology & Biochemistry. 2005, vol. 37, no11, pp. 2065-2076 [12 page(s) (article)] (1 p.1/4)

"Oil spills are one of the most common types of soil pollution. Bioremediation has become an attractive alternative to physicochemical methods of remediation, where feasible. Earthworms have been shown to stimulate the degradation of petroleum hydrocarbons in soil, and it was hypothesized that the role of earthworms in remediation lies in the enhancement of an oil degrading microbial community. The aim of this study was to characterize microbial activity and community dynamics in oil-contaminated soil incubated with or without earthworms. Three earthworm species (Eisenia fetida, Allolobophora chlorotica and Lumbricus terrestris) were incubated in crude oil polluted soil (ca. 10,000 mg/kg total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH)) and a reference soil for 28 d. Control treatments with manual mixing and/or cattle dung amendment were also included. In the oil-contaminated soil, respiration and concentration of microbial biomass was significantly enhanced by earthworm amendment, and TPH concentrations decreased significantly. These effects were less evident in treatments with A. chlorotica, possibly due to a difference in behavior, since individuals of this endogeic species were found in a state of inactivity (aestivation). Microbial community dynamics were described by phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) analyses. After 28 d, similar shifts in the soil PLFA composition were observed in the oil-contaminated soil irrespective of worm species. Fungal:bacterial ratios were increased in the presence of worms, but also by addition of dung as a food source, indicating a non-specific effect of metabolizable substrates. In contrast, the fatty acids 17:1ω8 (=Δ9-heptadecenoic acid) and 20:4ω6c (arachidonic acid) were specifically stimulated by the presence of earthworms in the oil-contaminated soil. The results showed that earthworms can contribute positively to bioremediation of oil-contaminated soil, but that the effect may be species-dependent."

There are also a number of books available on this subject that should be available to you at your local public or university library. For example:

Remediation of Petroleum Contaminated Soils: Biological, Physical, and Chemical Processes
By Eve Riser-Roberts