Innovation Trail on WRVO-1

Environmental advocates were in Albany Monday making the case that investing in the state's natural resources is good economic sense.

With Kodak embarking on a restructuring effort under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the future of the imaging icon remains unclear.

But one aspect of Kodak's legacy is already deeply imprinted onto the Rochester community.

Even as Rochester's most famous company struggled mightily to reinvent itself, the Rochester region steadily fought back - leading the state in job growth in recent years and outpacing its upstate peers in economic vitality.

One key reason: A long history of top-notch human capital flung into the community - willingly or not - as Kodak's fortunes withered.

As Governor Andrew Cuomo unveiled his 2012 budget proposal in Albany, he talked a lot about what he calls "entrepreneurial government" - a model in which the state sets the stage for private investment.

The question now is whether that private money will materialize:

The Department of Environmental Conservation begins holding hearings on the rules that would govern hydrofracking this week. New Yorkers have watched closely as fracking has unfolded in Pennsylvania and some are wary that environmental abuses could happen here ¿ while others are eager for the economic boom drilling could bring. The Innovation Trail's Matt Richmond reports.

Libby Foust lives on a quiet gravel road outside Ithaca, in a farmhouse with a 360 degree view of green hills, woods and grain silos.

She moved her family here from a farm in Troy, Pennsylvania.

"Just a very small, quaint town, had not much to offer except local people with local jobs, lot of farming."

Earlier this week, the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) released an updated version of its fracking regulations for its watershed. 

The commission oversees an area that covers four states - New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware - and provides water to more than 15 million Americans, including New York City.

But a top official in one of those states says he won't play ball on the draft regulations.