P.R. Laws tit. 12, § 1152
Besides the administrative fine, any natural or juridical person that carries out any of the following acts without the corresponding permits of the Secretary, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, shall be punished by imprisonment for a term not to exceed six (6) months, or a fine which shall not exceed the sum of five hundred dollars ($500), or both penalties, at the discretion of the court:
(a) The extraction, excavation, and removal of limestone rock for commercial purposes or for the leveling of terrain without the Secretary’s authorization, pursuant to §§ 206 et seq. of Title 28, known as the “Sand, Gravel and Stone Act,” as amended, and its respective regulations. No simple permits or exemptions shall be granted in the zone for these purposes.
(b) The creation of dumps for domestic waste, hazardous waste, or special or industrial non hazardous waste in the karst region.
(c) Agricultural activity that leads to the total extermination of the area’s vegetation, or which implies a substantial reduction, be it within one of the same species, among species, or an ecosystem; the use of pesticides, herbicides, or any biocide that is not degradable by biological, chemical, or folic action, that may seep through to aquifers.
(d) The construction of roads, highways, or other means of access without the Secretary’s authorization, as provided by this chapter.
(e) The construction of infrastructure for the enjoyment of scenic areas without the Secretary’s authorization, as provided by this chapter.
(f) The fragmentation of ecosystems of natural value. The term fragmentation shall include the division, separation, or isolation of any ecosystems that are intact, or that when this act is approved, has a high natural value, even though they have been fragmented in the past. The separation, isolation, and division may be caused by roads, or paths that cross them, or by remaining portions of the ecosystems to destine them for uses other than the preservation of natural systems.
(g) Deforestation, selective or total, removal of native and endemic vegetation for commercial landscape design activities, and removal of live ligneous material for the generation of charcoal without due evaluation and authorization, under the provisions of this chapter, and by the provisions included in other applicable laws and regulations.
(h) Removal, hunting, capture, or extermination of wildlife whose habitat is the karst region, without the proper authorization of the Secretary, as provided by this chapter.
(i) The construction and installation of towers and antennas for electrical transmission lines, or antennas for communication, without due authorization by the Secretary, as provided by this chapter.
(j) The creation of ecological tourism projects in the karst regions without the proper authorization of the Secretary, as provided by this chapter.
History —Aug. 21, 1999, No. 292, § 4.