Cover photo: What might have been

A glass etching at Hallockville Museum Farm in Northville shows how the northern horizon and adjacent farmland would have appeared had Long Island Lighting Co. been successful in its efforts to build nuclear power plants along the shore there. The plants easily won Nuclear Regulatory Commission approval in the 1970s but were blocked by then-governor Hugh Carey, who summered on Shelter Island. Farmers contend that had there ever been a slight radioactive leak, their industry would have been ruined. See page 9, where columnist Troy Gustavson reflects on nuclear power on Long Island in the wake of Fukushima.