2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE THREE - Executive (§§ 1 — 9311) › Chapter 10 - Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (§§ 151 — 163) › § 155 - Functions and duties of the Secretary

The Secretary of Natural and Environmental Resources shall have, in addition to those transferred by this chapter, the following functions and duties:
(a) To advise and make recommendations to the Governor, to the Legislature and to other organizations of the government with respect to the implementation of the public policy on natural resources.
(b) To establish the internal organization of the Department, and to appoint in accordance with the applicable laws, the necessary personnel for its operation.
(c) To appoint a subsecretary who shall fulfill the functions that the Secretary may assign to him and who shall substitute for him in case of a provisional vacancy.
(d) To adopt, amend and repeal regulations to carry out the objectives of this chapter, in accordance with Act No. 112 of June 30, 1957.
(e) Execute the agreements necessary and convenient in order to achieve the objectives of the Department and its programs, with bodies from the government of the United States of America, with state governments, with other departments, agencies or instrumentalities of the Government of the Commonwealth, its municipalities and with private institutions; [he/she] is also thus empowered to accept and receive any donations or funds on account of appropriations, advances or any other kind of assistance or benefit when these originate from said government bodies or from nonprofit institutions.
(f) To appoint those commissions, boards and committees that he may deem necessary for the better attainment of the goals of this chapter, as well as to collaborate with any entities related with the goals and purposes of the Department, offering therefor the secretarial services or technical assistance that they may need. In the appointment of these commissions, boards, and committees the Secretary shall give careful attention so that there be encouraged and offered ample opportunity for the participation of the citizens.
(g) To establish through regulations to such effects, the fees paid for permits for the sinking of wells for the pumping of subterranean waters in public and private lands in accordance with the faculties transferred by subsection (h) of § 156 of this title, to control the use and extraction of subterranean waters, to fix its extraction rhythm and to establish the fees to be paid for the subterranean waters to be extracted from the wells in public or private lands.
(h) To exercise surveillance and see to the conservation of territorial waters, submerged lands thereunder and the maritime-terrestrial zone, to grant franchises, permits and licenses of public nature for its use and exploitation and to establish through regulations the fees to be paid by same. To such effects he shall be empowered to exercise such powers and faculties that may be delegated by any agency or instrumentality of the federal government under any act of the Congress of the United States.
(i) To take all the necessary measures for the conservation, preservation, distribution, management, introduction, propagation, and restoration of terrestrial as well as aquatic resident, migratory, and exotic wildlife, animal, and plant species in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico; Providing, That the designation of sanctuaries is excluded from the above.
The possession, transportation, sale or importation of by-products from vulnerable or endangered species, as identified by the Secretary in the Regulations for Management of Vulnerable and Endangered Species in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, is hereby prohibited.
(j) To carry out investigations in order to obtain information about the population, distribution, habitat needs, limiting factors and other biological and ecological data to determine the conservation measures needed for the support and survival of the wildlife, animal and plant species mentioned in subsection (i) of this section.
(k) To acquire, through purchase, donation, transfer, or any other lawful means, appropriate land and aquatic habitats for the species indicated in subsection (i) of this section.
(l) Faculty to adopt regulations in order to designate, improve and preserve the terrestrial as well as aquatic wildlife, animal and plant species, that are threatened or endangered in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico; expressly provided the right of the citizens to take part in the process of public hearings that must be conducted to such effects.
(m) Faculty to establish, construct, develop, operate and maintain recreational areas, structures and facilities on the land under his custody and administration; and to fix the fees and rates to be charged for these services. This will be done with the approval of the Secretary of Sports and Recreation. The income derived from these activities shall be deposited in a Special Fund to be used for the maintenance and operation of these areas.
(n) To fix and collect, through regulations to these effects, the corresponding fees for copies of publications, studies, reports, maps, plans, photographs and any other document of a public nature that are requested of him. The income derived from this service shall be covered into a Special Fund within the Department. However, the Secretary, or the person upon whom he delegates this faculty, shall provide free copies to the Legislative, Judicial and Executive Branches, as well as to the municipal governments, and, at his discretion, to the persons or entities that he considers convenient.
(o) Faculty to regulate the recreational and sports use of cross-country motor vehicles (C.C.V.) such as: automobiles, motorcycles, four-wheel traction vehicles and “dune buggies”, on public land. These regulations shall be drafted and adopted in conjunction with the Department of Transportation and Public Works, and the Secretary of Sports and Recreation. The Secretary of the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources, in conjunction with the C.C.V. Federations and Associations of Puerto Rico, shall designate specific areas for the recreational and sports use of cross-country motor vehicles. The income derived as a result of these regulations shall be deposited in a Special Fund designated to the maintenance and operation of the activities and management programs that are thus established.
(p) The [power] to regulate the protection, management, and conservation of the wetlands of Puerto Rico.
(q) Shall be empowered to regulate the procedure to be followed, and the form and manner in which the Department shall periodically inform the complainant citizen before the Rangers Corps of those determinations or decisions made by the Department with respect to a violation of its act, regulations or administrative order informed by him/her. The Department shall keep the complainant-citizen informed regularly of the status of the complaint, in periods that shall not exceed forty-five (45) days after initiating action on the same. Nothing of the herein provided shall require the Department to disclose internal or confidential information, or that is protected by a privilege established by law. In no case shall it be construed that the failure to comply with this requirement shall affect the authority of the Department to proceed with the complaint as is corresponding.
(r) To establish, organize or approve courses and workshops on the use and conservation of the natural resources of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, which may be taken by those persons who have been found responsible for violating environmental laws or regulations.
History —June 20, 1972, No. 23, p. 415, § 5; Sept. 29, 1983, No. 31, p. 438, § 1; Jan. 14, 2000, No. 31, § 1; June 24, 2004, No. 163, § 1; Jan. 20, 2006, No. 12, § 1; Jan. 23, 2006, No. 26, § 1; July 13, 2007, No. 68, § 1, eff. 6 months after July 13, 2007.