The California state Senate voted unanimously yesterday for Mark Nechodom to head the state agency in charge of oil and gas permitting and pending regulations that cover hydraulic fracturing.

Lawmakers had grilled Nechodom on the Department of Conservation's approach to regulating fracking, asking him in last week's confirmation hearing whether he thought companies injecting water and sand into the ground to release oil and gas should have to disclose the chemicals they use (Greenwire, Jan. 10).

Nechodom's answer, delivered Friday, satisfied state Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D) as well as other lawmakers. Nechodom said in a letter that he would work with the Legislature to strike a balance between protecting trade secrets and publicly disclosing the use of potentially harmful chemicals. He said he would also consider adjusting the state's draft regulations, issued last month, to require more than 10 days' notice before well operators start fracking.

"The Department will keep health and safety as our first priority as we develop the regulations," he wrote.

"For purposes of at least our Rules Committee enquiry in assessing the qualifications as well as the direction of the director of this department, I am satisfied," Steinberg said ahead of the vote.

Some environmentalists are wary of the draft regulations, which propose requirements for well construction, wastewater management and chemical disclosure. They would require drillers to report the ingredients of fracking fluid on the industry-funded website FracFocus, and they would allow trade secrets to be disclosed to health professionals only if a patient is thought to have been exposed to hazardous chemicals (EnergyWire, Dec. 19, 2012).

There are at least two bills already introduced this session that address fracking. Sen. Fran Pavley's (D) S.B. 4 would require companies to disclose the composition of fracking fluids to the state, while Rep. Bob Wieckowski's (D) A.B. 7 would require drillers to notify the state at least 30 days before beginning fracking.

"The proposal in the draft regulations is clearly inadequate," Pavley said. "DOGGR [Department of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources] has stated that they can't take trade secret information without being given the authority to do so. We want to provide DOGGR the statutory authority to have access to the information used in hydraulic fracturing."

Environmentalists agreed that the regulations need more work. "There are a lot of things that are missing that we're going to be asking about in the coming weeks," said Damon Nagami, senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council. "We're definitely going to be active to try to move legislation to fill any holes that may not be covered by the regulations."

Still, groups praised Nechodom and his expertise in science and natural resource policy.

"He's a good communicator; he's bringing good tools and background," said Bill Allayaud, Environmental Working Group's director of California governmental affairs. "The problem is DOGGR needs a change of culture."

"Just saying public health and safety will come first doesn't make it so," Allayaud said. "The true test will be, what do the regulations actually end up doing and saying?"

Environmental Defense Fund cited Nechodom's work on environmental markets while at the U.S. Agriculture Department.

"We look forward to working with him on innovative programs to manage California's working lands and natural environment," said EDF's West Coast political director, Lauren Faber.

Industry representatives cheered the appointment. "Mark has, we think, done a very good job being very open and transparent, and very inclusive in how he's been running the department," said Tupper Hull, spokesman for the Western States Petroleum Association.