If he wants to be elected president, Cuomo's legacy in New York must be as a progressive hero, not the governor who led to our state's contamination. We've never needed a true progressive leader more than now.

The effort at the Botanical Garden hasn't arrived at any conclusions yet because researchers there don't have enough data. But at Mohonk, the wildflower bloodroot, gray tree frogs and ruby-throated hummingbirds have changed their schedules.

New York City says there was no post-Sandy rat explosion. But rats are still a major complaint in several neighborhoods, as experts say New York could do more to rebuff rodents.

A statewide group of pro-drilling landowners is moving forward with a lawsuit against the state as the Department of Environmental Conservation misses a key deadline in its review of hydraulic fracturing.

The deadline for Gov. Andrew Cuomo to reach a decision on whether hydraulic fracturing will be permitted in New York has once again come and gone. The JLCNY will move forward and sue New York State because they say their rights as landowners have been taken away.

Dr. Anthony Ingraffea spoke to a packed house at Cornell University's Lake Erie Research and Extension Laboratory Tuesday. He said it was a myth that fracing is a 60-year-old practice and uses well proven technology.

The New York Department of Environmental Conservation has detected ground contamination underneath a Laurelton dry cleaner and said the potential exists for the contamination to affect the air quality inside the cleaner as well as possibly off-site.

New York missed a Feb. 13 procedural deadline, so it will be unable to issue regulations for high-volume fracking by the end of this month. As a practical matter, this means the Department of Environmental Conservation will have to scrap the work it's done and restart the process.

Binghamton Mayor Matthew T. Ryan and other opponents of natural gas drilling on Tuesday called for formal public participation and other revisions to the New York State Department of Health’s review of hydrofracking.

Fracking not only creates friction within our towns, but it's also fractured the group that represents those towns. The latest flash point is just how much power those towns have to ban the natural gas extraction method of hydraulic fracturing.

With deadlines looming over the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to decide on whether or not it will allow gas and fuel companies to utilize the controversial gas-extraction drilling technique known as hydrofracking to be permitted in New York, state Department of Health commissioner Nirav Shah said that a critical health review is going to take longer.

The great fluoride debate isn't likely to end anytime soon. A second group of fluoride opponents has surfaced in Watertown. Mothers Against Fluoride seeks to have the city stop adding fluoride to the water supply, something that's been done since 1962.

Despite last December’s hydrofracking divide, Hudson’s Common Council members set aside their differences Tuesday night to vote unanimously for a citywide resolution opposing the drilling, storage and dispersal of hydrofracking fluids.

"It's frack or Iraq," my brother insisted, as we debated America's energy policy. And for a moment, the choice seemed that simple. But no sloganeering or headline can distill the truth about hydraulic fracturing, because, like virtually everything in life, it presents potential reward and risk.

Since its creation, the Office of Energy Development has been under fire by those opposed to hydrofracking. Those opposed to the office say it's a cover to promote fracking in Broome County despite county officials repeatedly saying otherwise.

Two Fredonia residents have asked the Pomfret council to consider establishing a 10-year moratorium on hydraulic fracturing within town limits and to prevent water removed from fracturing sites from being treated or dumped in the town.

Responding to news that gas drilling companies again face a delay in expanded drilling in New York, landowners say they are the victim of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's political agenda, while the gas industry says science shows drilling can be done safely.

Last week, New York State officials announced another delay of their final decision on hydrofracking. A delayed health review is now the key factor in deciding whether or not fracking will go ahead in New York.

Since New York first put large-scale hydraulic fracturing on hold 41/2 years ago, the highly passionate supporters and opponents of shale-gas drilling have agreed on little. Except this: There will be lawsuits.

The possibility of fracking has insinuated itself so deeply into so many aspects of local life, the fabric of that life has been frayed. In New York's Sullivan County, that is the one thing both sides of the issue can agree on.