The Legislature finds the resources of the state must be managed in a manner compatible with the environment, and the health and welfare of the citizens of the state. To respond to the needs of its environment and citizens, the state must have a comprehensive and coordinated program of environmental management. It is therefore the intent of the Legislature to improve the ability of the state to respond in an efficient, comprehensive and coordinated manner to environmental problems, and thereby assure for all citizens of the state a safe, healthful and productive environment.

(1) To this end an Alabama Department of Environmental Management is created by this chapter within the Executive Branch of State Government in order to effect the grouping of state agencies which have primary responsibility for administering environmental legislation into one department, to promote economy and efficiency in the operation and management of environmental programs, to eliminate overlapping or duplication of effort within the environmental programs of the state, to provide for timely resolution of permitting actions, to improve services to the citizens of the state, to protect human health and safety, to develop and provide for a unified environmental regulatory and permit system, to provide that the responsibility within the Executive Branch for the implementation of environmental programs and policies is clearly fixed and ascertainable, and to insure that government is responsive to the needs of the people and sufficiently flexible to meet changing conditions.

(2) It is also declared to be the intent of the Legislature to retain for the state, within the constraints of appropriate federal law, the control over its air, land and water resources and to secure cooperation between agencies of the state, agencies of other states, interstate agencies and the federal government in carrying out these objectives.

(3) It is the intent of the Legislature to recognize the unique characteristics of the Alabama coastal region and to provide for its protection and enhancement through a continued coastal area program.

(4) It is not the intent of the Legislature to abrogate any of the powers or duties of the State Board of Health which are found in Sections 22-2-1 through 22-2-14.