Burning faucets from fracking, and local pols on video

The most dramatic scenes from the controversial film Gasland showed people literally setting the water from their kitchen faucets on fire due to heavy methane concentrations.

The investigative non-profit Pro Public reports there’s a new study that for the first time links the phenomenon to natural gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing.

From the Pro Publica report:

“The researchers did not find evidence that the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing had contaminated any of the wells they tested, allaying for the time being some of the greatest fears among environmentalists and drilling opponents.

But they were alarmed by what they described as a clear correlation between drilling activity and the seepage of gas contaminants underground, a danger in itself and evidence that pathways do exist for contaminants to migrate deep within the earth.”

Read the rest of the Pro Publica story here.

Meanwhile, in Philadelphia we’re a week from a big primary election and candidates are pulling out all the stops.

Republican mayoral candidate John Featherman has a new web video drama, with actors playing Democratic and Republican bosses enjoying cigars and strippers on the public’s money. It’s not as clever as his first one, which featured a real estate agent assuring Muammar Gaddafi that he’d like the dictatorial politics practiced in Philly.

And thumbs up for a country song produced by the John Kromer for Sheriff campaign – watch it above.

It’s the season where candidates pull out every endorsement they can get. City Council candidate Joe Grace today touted his endorsement by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

I asked Grace how he thinks getting one of the country’s most prominent Yankee fans on his team will help. He laughed and said, “I’m happy that the leading public official in the country fighting illegal gun trafficking is supporting me.” Joe got on Bloomberg’s radar working on the gun control group Cease Fire Pa.