A California panel yesterday questioned Gov. Jerry Brown's (D) pick to be director of the California Department of Conservation about regulating hydraulic fracturing.

Mark Nechodom's appointment was unanimously approved by the state Senate Rules Committee, but he first faced some prodding from legislators about the controversial oil and gas production process. They repeatedly asked him whether he thought the process needed stricter disclosure regulations.

Energy companies drilling for oil in the state are not currently required to disclose what chemicals they use in the process.

Nechodom said the secrecy allows companies to protect their technologies.

"There is a trade-secret component, just as there is with Coca-Cola," he told the panel.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D) replied, "This is not Coca-Cola to me."

The previous conservation agency head, Derek Chernow, lost his job after he pushed back on Brown's request to expedite the permitting process by easing fracturing restrictions. Nechodom was then appointed to the job in December 2011 (Jeremy White, Sacramento Bee, Jan. 10). -- JE