Perhaps, but AFAIK, in bacterial systems that are light-inducible you need continuous illumination of a certain wavelength to have an effect. Which the eclipse wouldn't provide. But I don't know enough about the species mention in the article.
Just from the species name I'm guessing it can survive really high temps.
I took a second look at that point as well. On reflection, I think the author's message was that it was a mistake from a matter of public perception of the group and the proposal. The idea was already extremely left-wing and having that image of someone supporting it kept it out there.
