P.R. Laws tit. 12, § 203a
The Secretary of Natural and Environmental Resources is hereby empowered to impose administrative fines for violations of this chapter and the regulations approved thereunder after holding quasi-judicial public hearings. The administrative fines shall not exceed fifty thousand dollars ($50,000), nor shall they be less than fifty dollars ($50) or greater than five hundred dollars ($500) for each affected tree. Whenever necessary, the Secretary shall order the reforestation and restoration of the affected areas, taking into account the ecological and scientific factors convenient to the forest and the public interest involved. The funds accruing from said administrative fines shall be covered into the Special Forest Development Fund to be used for the purposes sought by this chapter.
In the event of subsequent violations, the Secretary, in the exercise of his/her discretion, may impose an administrative fine of not less than five thousand dollars ($5,000) nor greater than fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) after holding an administrative hearing, as provided in § 203b of this title.
The elimination of a tree as an incidental practice to agricultural development in a farm shall be [excepted] from this section, insofar as a soil conditioning and sowing plan is contemplated. Such plan shall be sent to the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources once the agricultural development is approved.
The Secretary of Natural and Environmental Resources or his authorized representatives shall have the power to receive testimony, take oaths, issue summons requiring the appearance of witnesses or the presentation of documentary or any other kind of evidence. He may likewise, issue orders for compliance or noncompliance and to cease and desist.
The Secretary of Natural and Environmental Resources may appear before the Court of First Instance of Puerto Rico to request an order enforcing compliance with any summons, resolution or order issued by him.
History —July 1, 1975, No. 133, p. 393, added as § 14 on Aug. 10, 1988, No. 161, p. 692, § 5; July 26, 2010, No. 85, § 1.