Esta ley enmienda la Ley del Fondo de Emergencias Ambientales de Puerto Rico para permitir que la Junta de Calidad Ambiental utilice hasta un 10% del fondo para gastos administrativos relacionados con emergencias ambientales y limpieza de sitios contaminados. También autoriza la transferencia de fondos a otros fondos y permite el uso del fondo para abordar la contaminación por aceite usado.
(Approved September 5, 2003)
To amend subsection
(f) and to add subsection
(j) and
(k) to Section 4 of Act No. 81 of July 2, 1987, as amended, known as the "Puerto Rico Environmental Emergencies Fund Act", for the purposes of authorizing the Environmental Quality Board to use up to a maximum of ten (10) per cent of the remainder of the Environmental Emergencies Fund at the closing of the fiscal year of the previous year to cover certain administrative expenses related to environmental emergencies response and remedy actions; to provide for the transfer of twenty million dollars to the Fund for the Acquisition and Conservation of Land created by law and of nine (9) million dollars to the Emergency Fund created by Act No. 91 of June 21, 1966, as amended; and to allow the use of the Environmental Emergencies Fund to address the cleaning or reparation of places contaminated with used oil .
Act No. 81 of July 2, 1987, known as the "Puerto Rico Environmental Emergencies Fund Act," created a fund to enable response to emergencies generated by hazardous substances or waste, and to have the necessary resources available to match the federal aid provided by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA). Furthermore, through this legislation it was intended to have mechanisms for necessary removal or remedial action in places contaminated with hazardous substances or waste.
The Environmental Quality Board was empowered through said Act to manage the Environmental Emergencies Fund; to carry out the necessary
response actions to such emergencies; to file judicial or administrative actions aimed at ordering that people responsible for a discharge, spill, abandonment or disposal of hazardous substances or waste to undertake the necessary and appropriate measures to protect the public and the environment from the effect of such contaminants; to use the funds for removal and remediation action in contaminated places; to impose administrative sanctions and the recovery of expenses and damages.
This Act is an instrument that allows the Environmental Quality Board to have the necessary funds available for compliance with its ministerial duties in the management of environmental emergencies. Recent incidents in Puerto Rico and in the United States have manifested the need to insure that the Environmental Quality Board be prepared to manage environmental emergencies. For such purpose, it is indispensable to authorize said agency to use a portion of the Environmental Emergencies Fund for its administrative expenses germane to its adequate preparation for environmental emergencies response and the corresponding remedial action.
Due to the growing and imperative need for supplying more funds to the Environmental Emergencies Fund and for acquiring land to prevent contamination and ill use thereof, the Environmental Quality Board shall grant the sum of twenty (20) million dollars to the Acquisition and Conservation of Land Fund which shall proceed from the money available in the Management of Used Oil Fund and the Tire Fund, which shall be transferred to the Environmental Emergencies Fund.
Section 1.- Section 4 of Act No. 81, of July 2, 1987, as amended, is hereby amended to read as follows: "Section 4.- Use of the Environmental Emergencies Fund:
The Environmental Quality Board may use the funds for the following purposes:
(a) ...
(b) ...
(c) ...
(d) ...
(e) $\ldots$
(f) To defray the reasonable costs and expenses needed for the management of this chapter by the Environmental Quality Board. The Environmental Quality Board may, also use up to a maximum of ten (10) per cent of the balance of the Environmental Emergencies Fund at the close of the previous fiscal year to defray administrative expenses related to environmental emergencies response and the cleaning and remediation of contaminated places, such as, but without limitation: the acquisition through purchase or lease of equipment and instruments, motor vehicles, materials, sites or spaces for office areas or warehouses training, located in or outside of Puerto Rico, uniforms, garments and security equipment, services and equipment or parts for reparation and calibration of equipment and instruments, office equipment, communication systems. The Environmental Quality Board shall also use the funds referred to in this paragraph for the acquisition, through purchase and lease, of equipment, instruments and materials for the Puerto Rico Environmental Research Laboratory under its charge, as well as for improvements to the
physical plant or structure (outside and inside) where the same is located.
(g) ...
(h) $\cdots$
(i) $\cdots$
(j) The Environmental Quality Board shall make a single transfer of twenty (20) million dollars to the Fund for the Acquisition and Conservation of Land in Puerto Rico, created by law, and another transfer of nine (9) million dollars to the Emergency Fund created by Act No. 91 of June 21, 1966, as amended, which must be made no later than September 30, 2003.
(k) The Environmental Quality Board may use the Environmental Emergency Fund for addressing emergencies and the cleaning and remediation of sites contaminated with used oil, as defined in Act No. 172 of August 31, 1996, as amended, and the regulations approved by the Board pursuant to the same.
Section 2.- This Act shall take effect immediately after its approval.
I hereby certify to the Secretary of State that the following Act No. 270 (H.B. 3488) of the $6^{ ext {th }}$ Session of the $14^{ ext {th }}$ Legislature of Puerto Rico:
AN ACT to amend subsection
(f) and to add subsection
(j) and
(k) to Section 4 of Act No. 81 of July 2, 1987, as amended, known as the "Puerto Rico Environmental Emergencies Fund Act", for the purposes of authorizing the Environmental Quality Board to use up to a maximum of ten (10) per cent of the remainder of the Environmental Emergencies Fund at the closing of the fiscal year of the previous year to cover certain administrative expenses related to environmental emergencies response and remedy actions; etc., has been translated from Spanish to English and that the English version is correct.
In San Juan, Puerto Rico, today $27^{ ext {th }}$ of October of 2004.
Elba Rosa Rodríguez-Fuentes Director