The Third Department affirmed the respondent commissioner of environmental conservation’s determination petitioner had failed to obtain licenses and pay license fees for an onshore petroleum storage facility and failed to maintain an adequate secondary containment area for the storage tanks. The assessment of fees and penalties was upheld, as was piercing the corporate veil to impose the fees and penalties upon petitioner’s sole shareholder personally:
The applicable standard of review is whether substantial evidence supports respondent’s determination (see CPLR 7803 [4]…). Under this standard, “it is the responsibility of the administrative agency to weigh the evidence and choose from among competing inferences therefrom and, so long as the inference drawn and the ultimate determination made are supported by substantial evidence, it is not for the court to substitute its judgment for that of the administrative agency” … . Respondent is not bound by the ALJ’s factual findings and is entitled to make his own findings … . To that end, respondent’s determination will not be disturbed so long as it is supported by substantial evidence … . …
Under New York’s Navigation Law, a person is prohibited from operating a major petroleum storage facility in the absence of a license (see Navigation Law § 174 [1] [a]; [9]). Matter of Supreme Energy, LLC v Martens, 2016 NY Slip Op 08143, 3rd Dept 12-1-16
ENVIRONMENTAL LAW (PETITIONER OPERATED AN ONSHORE PETROLEUM STORAGE FACILITY WITHOUT A LICENSE IN VIOLATION OF THE NAVIGATION LAW, LICENSE FEES AND PENALTIES PROPERLY IMPOSED UPON PETITIONER’S SOLE SHAREHOLDER)/NAVIGATION LAW (PETITIONER OPERATED AN ONSHORE PETROLEUM STORAGE FACILITY WITHOUT A LICENSE IN VIOLATION OF THE NAVIGATION LAW, LICENSE FEES AND PENALTIES PROPERLY IMPOSED UPON PETITIONER’S SOLE SHAREHOLDER)/PETROLEUM STORAGE FACILITY (ENVIRONMENTAL LAW, NAVIGATION LAW, PETITIONER OPERATED AN ONSHORE PETROLEUM STORAGE FACILITY WITHOUT A LICENSE IN VIOLATION OF THE NAVIGATION LAW, LICENSE FEES AND PENALTIES PROPERLY IMPOSED UPON PETITIONER’S SOLE SHAREHOLDER)/CORPORATION LAW (ENVIRONMENTAL LAW, NAVIGATION LAW, PETITIONER OPERATED AN ONSHORE PETROLEUM STORAGE FACILITY WITHOUT A LICENSE IN VIOLATION OF THE NAVIGATION LAW, LICENSE FEES AND PENALTIES PROPERLY IMPOSED UPON PETITIONER’S SOLE SHAREHOLDER)/PIERCING THE CORPORATE VEIL (ENVIRONMENTAL LAW, NAVIGATION LAW, PETITIONER OPERATED AN ONSHORE PETROLEUM STORAGE FACILITY WITHOUT A LICENSE IN VIOLATION OF THE NAVIGATION LAW, LICENSE FEES AND PENALTIES PROPERLY IMPOSED UPON PETITIONER’S SOLE SHAREHOLDER)