WATCH: Dangers of Natural Gas Extraction (Video)

Fracking is a burgeoning technology being used to extract natural gas locked  within rock formations. Fluid is pumped into natural or man made fractures  under high pressure to open up cracks and access hard to reach reservoirs.  Critics are calling for a moratorium on fracking, saying it poses serious health  risks to nearby residents, damages the environment and could even cause  small earthquakes. Supporters say those claims are overblown, and fracking is  essential to Alberta's natural gas industry. Is fracking dangerous? Is it critical  to our economic future? How should Alberta proceed? Joining us for this  discussion is Jessica Ernst, Rosebud resident and former energy sector  consultant is now suing Encana; Tim Marchant, Adjunct Professor of Strategy  and Energy Geopolitics at the University of Calgary; and Ben Parfitt, Resource  Policy Analyst with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.  Watch video here.   (l.) Once quite farmland, turned into a "fracking"  site in the US. "Although no complete list of  the cocktail of chemicals used  in this process exists, information  obtained from environmental  clean-up sites demonstrates that  known toxins are routinely being used, including hydrochloric acid,  diesel fuel (which contains benzene, tuolene, and xylene) as well as  formaldehyde, polyacrylimides, arsenic, and chromates." Sourcewatch.org ===== COMMENT: "I wish, just once, these corporations would admit to what they are doing, instead of always denying the obvious."  Margaret Romak