Permit to extract sand, gravel and stone, and how to object to it

It is the authorisation needed to excavate, extract, remove or dredge sand, gravel, stone and other components of the earth's crust, on public or private land. Since Act 19-2026 OGPe grants it and DRNA oversees it, and it includes a public hearing procedure where affected neighbours can appear and present evidence.

To apply: any natural or juridical person, association or group, department, agency, quasi-public corporation, municipality or instrumentality of the Government of Puerto Rico or the United States that will excavate, extract, remove or dredge components of the earth's crust within Puerto Rico's geographic limits, or export them. To take part in the public hearing: any interested or affected person, who may appear in person or through counsel. OGPe may waive the permit and the corresponding payment when the quantities extracted are not significant or substantial.

• Obtain the OGPe permit before excavating, extracting, removing or dredging on public or private land. OGPe's prior authorisation is also needed to export the material.Verified against the official source
• Comply with the Environmental Public Policy Act through an Environmental Assessment or an Environmental Impact Statement before the permit is granted.Verified against the official source
• If the application is in the coastal zone or in watersheds of rivers used as water intakes, the Environmental Impact Statement is the mandatory route.Verified against the official source
• Meet the operational requirements, limits and restrictions the permit sets, including days and hours of operation and hauling, which OGPe may regulate for working days as well as holidays and weekends.Verified against the official source

• The law publishes no application document list: it provides that OGPe set the rules and requirements for granting permits by regulation. It does expressly mention the Environmental Assessment or Environmental Impact Statement as part of the record before granting.

1. 1

   Step 1: Confirm that what you plan needs a permit

   The permit covers excavating, extracting, removing or dredging sand, gravel, stone, soil, silica, calcite, clay and any similar component of the earth's crust not regulated as an economic mineral, on public and private land. It also applies to agencies, municipalities and instrumentalities, not just private parties. OGPe may waive the permit and payment when quantities are not significant or substantial.

2. 2

   Step 2: File with OGPe, not DRNA

   This is Act 19-2026's central change: the permit is granted by the Permit Management Office, and the DRNA Secretary keeps jurisdiction over oversight of the permits OGPe grants. Filing with the wrong agency wastes time. OGPe also takes DRNA's recommendations into account when granting or denying.

3. 3

   Step 3: If you are a neighbour: find out and ask for the public hearing

   Before issuing a new permit, OGPe must notify DRNA and the public about applications through the channels it sets in its regulation. OGPe holds public hearings if comments, controversies or objections arise about an application, and may convene them on its own initiative or at the request of an interested party. That request is your way in.

4. 4

   Step 4: Attend the hearing and put your objection on the record

   The hearing is held in the municipality where the activity would take place, outside working hours, chaired by a technical-legal panel. In the first part the applicants present the activity they want authorised to the community and answer questions. In the second, the panel takes on the record all comments, concerns, questions and objections. Interested or affected persons may appear in person or through counsel, question witnesses and offer evidence to prove their case, and the hearing proceedings are kept in a record admissible in evidence before a court.

5. 5

   Step 5: Expect the written, reasoned decision

   Within 30 days of the hearing, OGPe must deny or grant the permit and set it out in writing, with the findings of fact and law it rests on, and send a copy by certified mail to each party that appeared in the proceeding. Appearing is therefore not just speaking: it makes you a party the decision must be served on.

The permit application and participation in the public hearing go to the Permit Management Office (OGPe). Oversight of permits already granted falls to the Secretary of the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources.

• Filing with DRNA: since Act 19-2026 the permit is granted by OGPe, and DRNA oversees permits already granted.
• Believing no permit is needed on private land: the law expressly covers public and private land.
• Thinking a municipality or agency is exempt: the law names departments, agencies, quasi-public corporations, municipalities and instrumentalities.
• As a neighbour, sticking to informal complaints: the public hearing can be requested by an interested party, and appearing entitles you to be served the decision by certified mail.
• Forgetting the hearing record is admissible in evidence before a court: what is said and proven there can carry weight later.
• Assuming the material can be exported just by holding the extraction permit: exporting needs OGPe's prior authorisation.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Oficina de Gerencia de Permisos (OGPe)

  OGPe

  bvirtualogp.pr.gov