as we hit day 78 of the oil spill. this has bp and the epa now looking into using a unique bacteria, which could potentially eat up the oil. so far in 77 days bp has reportedly only skimmed and burned about 60% of the oil that they promised they could cleanup in a single day, a total of 250,000 barrels of oil have been burned off the surface of the gulf. steve harrigan is following this part of the story for us. he joins us live from miami. good morning, steve. >> reporter: rick, good morning, a florida company says one barrel of its product can cleanup one acre of oil beach and they are pushing hard to try and show what they can do. vacuums, berms, sandbags, hay, hair, containment booms, barges have all be tried to fight the gulf oil spill, there is one technique that has not been used we could see soon, oil eating bacteria. >> they are nature's little housekeepers. they eat it as a food source,