2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWELVE - Conservation (§§ 1-16 — 8162) › Subtitle 8 - Environment II (§§ 8001 — 8162) › Chapter 501 - Environmental Public Policy (§§ 8001 — 8007f) › Subchapter IV - Environmental Emergencies (§§ 8004 — 8004o) › § 8004m - Harmful substance management

(a) The Environmental Quality Board is hereby ordered to formulate and adopt an emergency plan that sets forth the measures to be taken and the equipment and materials necessary to minimize damages arising from the spill of harmful substances.
(b) The Board is hereby authorized to:
(1) Determine and require that the destination recipients or importers of harmful substances pay monetary fees pursuant to the provisions of this subsection.
(2) Adopt regulations to require that destination recipients of harmful substances pay monetary fees to defray their programs in connection with response planning and to respond to harmful substance spills, to control environmental pollution, and to conduct environmental scientific research. These funds may be used for the purposes provided for in this chapter. The procedures to be followed in adopting such regulations shall be those which are provided for such purposes in the Puerto Rico Uniform Administrative Procedures Act, §§ 2101 et seq. of Title 3. All destination recipients or importers located in Puerto Rico shall pay to the Department of the Treasury the fees set by the Environmental Quality Board pursuant to the provisions of this clause, upon arrival into Puerto Rico of the harmful substances in question. The funds received by the Department of the Treasury on account thereof shall be covered into the Puerto Rico Environmental Emergency Fund.
(3) In determining the fees to be paid, the following factors, among others, shall be taken into consideration: the average amount of harmful substances that destination recipients receive periodically, the hazardousness of the substance received, the time the transporter remains in territorial waters or within the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and any other factor that may be pertinent.
(4) Contract with any agency or instrumentality of the Commonwealth or the federal government or with any private entity for services to carry out the purposes of this section and § 8004o of this title.
(5) Issue orders to do or forbear against public or private corporations or natural and juridical persons, in order to discharge certain functions so as to accomplish the purposes of of this section and § 8004o of this title.
Procedures pertaining to the issue of orders, the holding of the corresponding administrative hearings and procedures for court review of orders and resolutions under of this section and § 8004o of this title shall be governed by the procedures established in Subchapters II and IV of this chapter and the Uniform Administrative Procedures Act, §§ 2101 et seq. of Title 3, with respect to all other orders and/or resolutions issued by the Board.
(6) Establish and operate one or more warehouses to store the equipment and materials to handle spills. These warehouses shall be located at various sites throughout the Island in order to expedite the deployment of equipment and materials in the case of an emergency.
History —Sept. 22, 2004, No. 416, § 44, eff. 6 months after Sept. 22, 2004.