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) › § 8004n - Definitions

(a) For purposes of the provisions of § 8004m of this title, the words and phrases stated below shall have the following meaning:
(1) Transporter.— Any natural or juridical person who by means of any kind of vessel, vehicle or means of cargo transportation takes harmful substances from one place to another within the jurisdiction of Puerto Rico and its adjacent waters.
(2) Destination recipient.— Any natural or juridical person to whom the transporter is to deliver harmful substance cargo.
(3) Harmful substances.— Those substances in a liquid or gaseous state which by their nature may, in the event of a spill or leak, harm the environment or the health of the citizenry, including, without being limited to, substances such as oil and its byproducts and gases such as toluene. This term also includes hazardous substances or waste as defined in § 8004a of this title.
(4) Spill.— The discharge, emission or expulsion, whether accidental or intentional, of harmful substances from a vessel of any kind through pipelines or any other means, or out to sea or into any other body of water in Puerto Rico.
(5) Board.— The Environmental Quality Board.
(6) Equipment and materials.— The equipment and materials necessary to handle harmful substance spill situations as established by regulation.
(b) For purposes of the provisions of § 8004o of this title, the words and phrases stated below shall have the following meaning:
(1) Damages.— Means any damage with which lies responsibility under the laws of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or the United States of America which leads to, arises from or involves the spill or the possible threat of there being an oil or a hazardous substance spill.
(2) Spill.— Means any emission or leak, whether intentional or negligent, including, but not limited to, spills, seepage, leakage, pumping, dumping, discharge or casting of oil or hazardous substances into the ground, in a maritime-land zone, or out to sea. This does not include spills caused by force majeure.
(3) On-site federal coordinator.— Means the federal officer designated by the Environmental Protection Agency (E.P.A.) or the Coast Guard service of the United States of America to coordinate and direct any federal remedial action under subchapter D of the National Contingency Plan, or the officer appointed by the designated agency to coordinate and direct cleanup efforts under subchapter E of the aforementioned Federal Plan.
(4) National Contingency Plan.— Means the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan, 40 C.F.R. 300, established under the Water Pollution Prevention and Control Act, 33 U.S.C. §§ 2701 et seq. (Section 1321(d)), as amended by the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, Pub. L. No. 101-380, 104 Stat. 484, 33 U.S.C. §§ 2701 et seq., the Oil Discharge Environmental Incident Contingency Plan of the Environmental Quality Board, and the Oil and Hazardous Substance Contingency Plan of the Coast Guard.
(5) Oil.— Means the product generally known as such, of any class or form, and any byproduct thereof, including, but not limited to petroleum, oil, fuel, oily waste, and residual mixtures containing oils, silts or refined oils.
(6) Person.— Means any natural or juridical person, partnership, association, instrumentality, municipality, commission or agency of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or a political subdivision of a state of the United States of America, or any entity created to operate between the states of the United States of America.
(7) Cleanup, removal or disposal expenses.— Means cleanup expenses incurred after an oil or a hazardous substance spill or to prevent such spill, the expenses incurred to mitigate pollution and damages resulting from such spill, and expenses incurred for the disposal of the collected material.
(8) Responsible party.— This includes the following:
(A) Vessels.— Means any person owning, operating, or demise chartering a vessel. This term shall also include the owners of oil being transported in a tank vessel with a single hull after December 31, 2010.
(B) Ground facilities.— Means a person who owns or operates a facility, excluding regular or oil pipelines, or a federal, Commonwealth or municipal agency, commission, instrumentality or political division of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or any political subdivision of a state of the United States of America or any interstate entity that, as owner, transfers the title deed, the tenancy and the right of use over such property to another person through a lease, an assignment or a permit.
(C) Offshore facilities.— Means the lease of the area where the facility is located or the holder of the right of use and easements conferred under the applicable Commonwealth law or the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, 43 U.S.C. §§ 1301–1356, for the area where the facility is located, if such holder is a person other than the lessee, excluding: regular or oil pipelines or deepwater ports duly authorized by law or by a federal, Commonwealth or municipal agency or by a commission, instrumentality or political division of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or a state of the United States of America or by any interstate entity that, as owner, transfers the title deed, the tenancy or the right of use over the property to another person through a lease, an assignment or a permit.
(D) Deepwater port.— Means the assignor of a deepwater port authorized by the Federal Deepwater Port Act of 1974, 33 U.S.C. §§ 1501–1524.
(E) Regular pipeline.— Means the owner or operator of any pipeline.
(F) Abandonment.— Means any vessel, ground facility, deepwater port, regular pipeline, oil pipeline or offshore facility which has been abandoned or fallen into disuse, including the parties which would have been responsible before such vessel or facility was abandoned.
(9) Intervening party.— Means any person who has not had any part in or responsibility for the original spill and intervenes for purposes of cleaning up, removal, and disposal of the spilled material, including the participation in damage mitigation, whether voluntarily or through a contract, who offers assistance or advice to remedy or eliminate the spill.
(10) Hazardous substances.— Means any substance or substance mixture that is toxic, corrosive, highly sensitizing, irritating, combustible, flammable or which generates pressure through decomposition, heat or other means, if such substance or substance mixture is capable of causing bodily injuries or illness as a result of its use, management or ingestion.
History —Sept. 22, 2004, No. 416, § 45, eff. 6 months after Sept. 22, 2004; Mar. 30, 2012, No. 62, § 2.