The Legislature hereby finds and declares that the California Environmental Protection Agency was established to enhance the state’s protection of the environment by, among other things, more effectively coordinating the permit actions of the departments or boards within the agency which issue environmental permits and by ensuring timely responses to applicants for permits in order to reduce costs associated with compliance with the state’s environmental protection statutes and programs. It is the intent of this article to provide a mechanism by which the California Environmental Protection Agency may further this objective of environmental protection by bringing relevant agencies together to foster the integration of requests for information, promote speedy and cost-effective compliance, and synchronize, to the maximum extent feasible, the environmental permit requirements imposed on applicants by the departments or boards within the agency.