The Department shall be headed by a Director appointed by the Governor to serve at his pleasure. The Director shall be an experienced administrator with knowledge of environmental protection and government operation and shall have demonstrated expertise in organizational management and environmental science, environmental law, or environmental policy. The Director of the Department of Environmental Quality shall, under the direction and control of the Governor, exercise such power and perform such duties as are conferred or imposed upon him by law and shall perform such other duties as may be required of him by the Governor and the following Boards: the State Air Pollution Control Board, the State Water Control Board, and the Virginia Waste Management Board. The Director or his designee shall serve as executive officer of the aforementioned Boards.

All powers and duties conferred or imposed upon the Executive Director of the Department of Air Pollution Control, the Executive Director of the State Water Control Board, the Administrator of the Council on the Environment, and the Director of the Department of Waste Management are continued and conferred or imposed upon the Director of the Department of Environmental Quality or his designee. Wherever in this title and in the Code of Virginia reference is made to the head of a division, department or agency hereinafter transferred to this Department, it shall mean the Director of the Department of Environmental Quality.

1992, c. 887; 2008, cc. 276, 557.