ALBANY – When President Barack Obama visited the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown last month, he was greeted by demonstrators opposed to his support of extracting natural gas through the technique known as hydrofracturing or “fracking.”

On Tuesday, the state Court of Appeals will tackle the emotional issue of fracking as it hears arguments for the first time on whether New York municipalities—including Middlefield, the town surrounding Cooperstown—may use local ordinances to ban fracking.