A. There is hereby created the Department of Environmental Quality.

B. Within its jurisdictional areas of environmental responsibility, the Department of Environmental Quality, through its duly designated employees or representatives, shall have the power and duty to:

1. Perform such duties as required by law; and

2. Be the official agency of the State of Oklahoma, as designated by law, to cooperate with federal agencies for point source pollution, solid waste, hazardous materials, pollution, Superfund, water quality, hazardous waste, radioactive waste, air quality, drinking water supplies, wastewater treatment and any other program authorized by law or executive order.

C. Any employee of the Department in a technical, supervisory or administrative position relating to the review, issuance or enforcement of permits pursuant to this Code who is an owner, stockholder, employee or officer of, or who receives compensation from, any corporation, partnership, or other business or entity which is subject to regulation by the Department of Environmental Quality shall disclose such interest to the Executive Director. Such disclosure shall be submitted for Board review and shall be made a part of the Board minutes available to the public. This subsection shall not apply to financial interests occurring by reason of an employee's participation in the Oklahoma State Employees Deferred Compensation Plan or publicly traded mutual funds.

D. The Executive Director, Deputy Director, and all other positions and employees of the Department at the Division Director level or higher shall be in the unclassified service.

E. The following programs are hereby established within the Department of Environmental Quality:

1. An air quality program which shall be responsible for air quality;

2. Water programs which shall be responsible for water quality, including, but not limited to point source and nonpoint source pollution within the jurisdiction of the Department, public and private water supplies, public and private wastewater treatment, water protection and discharges to waters of the state;

3. Land protection programs which shall be responsible for hazardous waste, solid waste, radiation, and municipal, industrial, commercial and other waste within its jurisdictional areas of environmental responsibility pursuant to Section 1-3-101 of this title; and

4. Special projects and services programs which shall be responsible for duties related to planning, interagency coordination, technical assistance programs, laboratory services and laboratory certification, recycling, education and dissemination of information.

F. Within the Department there are hereby created:

1. The complaints program which shall be responsible for intake processing, investigation, mediation and conciliation of inquiries and complaints received by the Department and which shall provide for the expedient resolution of complaints within the jurisdiction of the Department; and

2. The customer assistance program which shall be responsible for advising and providing to licensees, permittees and those persons representing businesses or those persons associated with and representing local political subdivisions desiring a license or permit, the necessary forms and the information necessary to comply with the Oklahoma Environmental Quality Code. The customer assistance program shall coordinate with other programs of the Department to assist businesses and municipalities in complying with state statutes and rules governing environmental areas.

The customer assistance program shall also be responsible for advising and providing assistance to persons desiring information concerning the Department's rules, laws, procedures, licenses or permits, and forms used to comply with the Oklahoma Environmental Quality Code.

G. The Department shall be responsible for holding administrative hearings as defined in Section 2-1-102 of this title and shall provide support services related to them, including, but not limited to, giving required notices, maintaining the docket, scheduling hearings, and maintaining legal records.

H. 1. The Department shall prepare and submit an annual report assessing the status of the Department's programs to the Board, the Governor, the President Pro Tempore of the State Senate, and the Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives by January 1 of each year. The annual status report shall include: the number of environmental inspections made within the various regulatory areas under the Department's jurisdiction; the number of permit applications submitted within the various regulatory areas under the Department's jurisdiction; the number of permits issued within the various regulatory areas under the Department's jurisdiction; the number and type of complaints filed with the Department; the number of resolved and unresolved Department complaints; a list of any permits and complaints which failed to be either completed or resolved within the Department's established time frames and an explanation of why the Department was unable to meet said time frames; the number and kinds of services provided corporations, businesses, cities, towns, schools, citizen groups and individuals by the customer assistance programs; a summary of the Department's environmental education efforts; the number and type of administrative hearings held and their outcomes; a detailed description of any promulgated and pending emergency or permanent rules requested by the Department and the current status of pending rules within the rulemaking process; the number of notices of violations issued by the Department within the various regulatory areas under its jurisdiction; the amount of penalties collected by the Department within the various regulatory areas under its jurisdiction; and any other information which the Department believes is pertinent.

2. Beginning January 1, 1995, and on or before January 1 of every year thereafter, the Department shall prepare an Oklahoma Environmental Quality Report which outlines the Department's annual needs for providing environmental services within its jurisdictional areas. The report shall reflect any new federal mandates and any state statutory or constitutional changes recommended by the Department within its jurisdictional areas. The Oklahoma Environmental Quality Report shall be reviewed, amended, and approved by the Board. The Department shall transmit an approved copy of the Oklahoma Environmental Quality Report to the Governor, President Pro Tempore of the State Senate, and Speaker of the House of Representatives.

3. The Executive Director shall establish such divisions and such other programs and offices as the Executive Director may determine necessary to implement and administer programs and functions within the jurisdiction of the Department pursuant to the Oklahoma Environmental Quality Code.

I. 1. The Department may contract with other governmental entities to provide environmental services. Such contracts may include duties related to providing information to the public regarding state environmental services, resources, permitting requirements and procedures based upon the ability, education and training of state environmental agency employees.

2. The Department, in conjunction with the state environmental agencies, may develop a program for the purpose of training government employees to provide any needed environmental services; provided, that the investigation of complaints regarding, or inspections of, permitted sites or facilities shall not be performed by employees of other agencies, unless otherwise authorized by law.

Added by Laws 1992, c. 398, § 9, eff. Jan. 1, 1993. Amended by Laws 1993, c. 145, § 16, eff. July 1, 1993. Renumbered from § 9 of this title by Laws 1993, c. 145, § 359, eff. July 1, 1993. Amended by Laws 1993, c. 324, § 5, eff. July 1, 1993; Laws 1995, c. 246, § 1, eff. Nov. 1, 1995; Laws 2002, c. 139, § 1, emerg. eff. April 29, 2002.