NOVELTY - An isolated bioremediative microorganism (I) comprising a 16S ribosomal subunit nucleic acid sequence (ss1) having more than 95% identity to a sequence (S1) of 1359 or 336 bp as given in the specification, or a sequence complementary to (S1), is new.    USE - (I) is useful for dechlorinating chlorinated biphenyls. The method comprises introducing (I) to a system comprising chlorinated biphenyls, and providing growth conditions for (I) such that at least one chlorine molecule per chlorinated biphenyls molecule is removed from chlorinated biphenyls, where the growth conditions include the presence of an agent as an additive, for enhancing the dechlorination efficacy. Alternatively the method can be performed by contacting chlorinated biphenyl with (I) for sufficient time under suitable conditions to at least partially dechlorinate the chlorinated biphenyl, where at least one chlorine molecule per chlorinated biphenyl molecule is removed during the contacting step which comprises dechlorination of a flanked chlorine substituent of the chlorinated biphenyl. (M1) is useful for determining the bioremediative potential of CB-containing site, which is useful for monitoring CB-containing site which comprises conducting serial observations using (M1). (III) is useful for bioremediation, comprising overlyingly capping a PCB-containing material with a sedimentary composition including (III). (I) is useful for biodegradation of halogenated organic waste, e.g., contaminated soil from landfill sites, river beds, etc., containing PCBs, as well as to treat leachates and aqueous surfactant solutions resulting from washing the organic waste to transfer PCBs to the aqueous surfactant solutions.    ADVANTAGE - Aerobic consortium of bacteria improves the overall degradation of PCBs by effective dechlorination of CB and facilitates bioremediation treatment. The dechlorination/bioremediation can optionally be combined with other conventional bioremediation and waste-degradation methods to achieve an enhanced decontamination or purification result.    DETAILED DESCRIPTION - INDEPENDENT CLAIMS are also included for the following:    (1) determining (M1) the bioremediative potential of chlorinated biphenyl (CB)-containing site comprising contacting nucleic acid molecule comprising (ss1) with another nucleic acid molecule from the site under hybridization conditions, where occurrence of hybridization is indicative of a positive bioremediation potential of the site;    (2) a PCB-degradative composition (II) comprising (I) having a 16S ribosomal subunit nucleic acid sequence (ss2) having more than 95% identity to (S1) or a sequence (S2) of 880 bp as given in the specification, or a sequence fully complementary to (S1) or (S2), and a PCB degradation-enhancing agent for (I); and    (3) a composition (III) for broad spectrum dechlorination of a multi-congener mixture of CB comprising non-naturally occurring consortium of dechlorinatingly effective microbial species.