ALBANY, N.Y. -- A Nassau County jury has awarded the New York Environmental Protection & Spill Compensation Fund (commonly called the Oil Spill Fund) full cleanup costs and interest and $6.325 million in penalties for a petroleum spill at an Inwood, N.Y., gas station.
The state of New York, represented by the Office of the Attorney General, sought recovery for payments the Oil Spill Fund made to investigate and clean up petroleum contamination.
State Comptroller Alan G. Hevesi said, I'm pleased that the jury recognized that [image-nocss] these parties had a responsibility to rectify the damage they had done to the environment and the community. The Oil Spill Fund was created to ensure that the impact of oil spills is thoroughly addressed when those responsible for oil spills do not do so. The jury's ruling sends a strong message to companies that they must be responsible for the damages they cause.
The case involved three defendants: Sunoco Inc., which formerly owned the property; LVF Realty Co. Inc., which currently owns the property, purchased from Sunoco in August 1985; and Sun Super Service Centers Inc., which has been the operator of the station located on the property since June 1980.
Prior to this jury trial, the fund had won a summary judgment motion against defendants LVF Realty and Sun Super for cleanup costs in the amount of $64,818.60, together with prejudgment interest at 9%. Last week, the jury awarded the State full costs and interest from Sunoco, plus penalties from each of the three defendants.
The penalties were assessed as follows: $6 million against Sunoco; $250,000 against LVF Realty; and $75,000 against Sun Super. The basis for penalties was the defendants' failure to report the discharge of petroleum, and failure to investigate and remediate resulting contamination.
The Oil Spill Fund pays for the remediation of petroleum spills conducted under the oversight of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. The fund's major sources of revenue are a license fee charged on barrels of petroleum sold in New York (eight cents per 42-gallon barrel) and reimbursement from petroleum spillers.
The Oil Spill Fund is part of the Office of the State Comptroller.
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