[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 104 (Wednesday, June 1, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-13307]


[[Page Unknown]]

[Federal Register: June 1, 1994]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
 

Issuance of Decisions and Orders; Week of April 11 Through April 
15, 1994

    During the week of April 11 through April 15, 1994, the decisions 
and orders summarized below were issued with respect to appeals and 
applications for exception or other relief filed with the Office of 
Hearings and Appeals of the Department of Energy. The following summary 
also contains a list of submissions that were dismissed by the Office 
of Hearings and Appeals.

Appeals

Clyde Excell Clements, Jr., 4/11/94, LFA-0364

    Clyde Excell Clements, Jr. filed an Appeal from a denial by the 
DOE's Pittsburgh Naval Reactors Office of a Request for Information 
which he had submitted under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). In 
considering the Appeal, the DOE found that a search for information 
conducted by the Pittsburgh Naval Reactors Office had been adequate. In 
addition, the DOE found that the FOIA does not require the Pittsburgh 
Naval Reactors Office to respond to questions posed in Clements' 
Appeal.

Coalition on West Valley Nuclear Wastes, 4/13/94, LFA-0361

    The Coalition on West Valley Nuclear Wastes filed an Appeal from a 
partial denial of a Request for Information which the organization had 
submitted under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). In considering 
the Appeal, the DOE found that the Idaho Operations Office and its 
management and operating contractor, West Valley Nuclear Services 
Company, had conducted a search reasonably calculated to find any 
responsive documents related to the 1982 ground survey of the former 
site of a nuclear fuel reprocessing plant. An important issue 
considered in the Decision and Order was whether a thorough but 
fruitless search for documents of a type not normally retained or 
copied is considered responsive under the FOIA.

Vista Control Systems, Inc., 4/12/94, LFA-0362

    Vista Control Systems, Inc. (Vista) filed an Appeal from a 
determination issued by the Office of Intergovernmental and External 
Affairs of the Department of Energy's Albuquerque Field Office (DOE/
AL), in response to a request for information under the Freedom of 
Information Act (FOIA). In considering the Appeal, the DOE found that 
the University of California, a DOE contractor who possessed the 
records sought by Vista, is not an ``agency'' as defined in the FOIA. 
However, because the contract between the DOE and the University, which 
manages the DOE's Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), provided that 
all records acquired or generated by the University employee's at LANL 
shall be the property of the Government, the DOE found that the records 
requested by Vista were agency records subject to the FOIA. The matter 
was therefore remanded to DOE/AL for a determination either releasing 
the materials requested or providing a detailed justification for their 
withholding. In all other respects, the Appeal was denied.

McKusick Petroleum, 4/12/94, LEE-0054

    McKusick Petroleum (McKusick) filed an Application for Exception 
from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) requirement that it 
file Form EIA-782B, the ``Resellers'/Retailers' Monthly Petroleum 
Product Sales Report.'' In considering this request, the DOE found that 
the firm was not experiencing a gross inequity or serious hardship. On 
February 24, 1994, the DOE issued a Proposed Decision and Order 
determining that the exception request should be denied. No Notice of 
Objection to the Proposed Decision and Order was filed within the 
prescribed time period. Therefore, the DOE issued the Proposed Decision 
and Order in final form, denying McKusick's Application for Exception.

Miller's Bottled Gas, Inc., 4/13/94, LEE-0059

    Miller's Bottled Gas, Inc. (Miller's) filed an Application for 
Exception from the requirement that it file Form EIA-782B, entitled 
``Resellers'/Retailers' Monthly Petroleum Product Sales Report.'' The 
exception request, if granted, would permit Miller's to be permanently 
exempted from filing Form EIA-782B. In considering the request, the 
Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) found that the firm had not met 
the standards set forth by the DOE for exception relief. Furthermore, 
Miller's has never completed the form as required. Thus, the DOE found 
that the firm's claim that completion of the form would require an 
inordinate amount of time is purely speculative, and cannot provide a 
basis for relieving the firm of the filing requirement. Therefore, 
Miller's did not demonstrate that it is experiencing a serious hardship 
or gross inequity and exception relief was denied.

Refund Application

State Escrow Distribution, 4/12/94, RF302-15

    The Office of Hearings and Appeals ordered the DOE's Office of the 
Controller to distribute $10,047,284 to the State Governments. The use 
of the funds by the States is governed by the Stripper Well Settlement 
Agreement.

Refund Applications

    The Office of Hearings and Appeals issued the following Decisions 
and Orders concerning refund applications, which are not summarized. 
Copies of the full texts of the Decisions and Orders are available in 
the Public Reference Room of the Office of Hearings and Appeals.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 Name                          Case No.           Date  
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alan N. Abner et al...................  RF272-90936             04/13/94
Alfred Friedman Management Corporation  RF272-80410             04/15/94
Atlantic Richfield Company/Aristech     RF304-10989             04/12/94
 Chemical Corporation.                                                  
Atlantic Richfield Company/Ben's Arco   RF304-13861             04/14/94
 et al.                                                                 
Atlantic Richfield Company/Warfel       RF304-14357             04/12/94
 Trucking, Inc. et al.                                                  
Beacon Oil Company/Harmon's Service...  RF238-136               04/15/94
Coca Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated et  RF272-67200             04/13/94
 al.                                                                    
Gulf Oil Corp./Magic Valley Electric    RF300-13158             04/13/94
 Coop Inc et al.                                                        
North Daviess Community Schools et al.  RF272-87042             04/14/94
Sears Roebuck & Co....................  RF272-235               04/12/94
Texaco Inc./Barnett's Texaco et al....  RF321-51                04/15/94
Texaco Inc./Bob's Texaco et al........  RF321-18887             04/13/94
Texaco Inc./Griffin Oil Company.......  RF321-2415              04/13/94
Griffin Oil Company...................  RF321-20966            .........
Griffin Oil Company...................  RF321-20967            .........
Texaco Inc./Jim Williams Texaco.......  RF321-20969             04/14/94
Texaco Inc./John Sorum Texaco.........  RF321-20968             04/12/94
Texaco Inc./Lake Joy Texaco et al.....  RF321-571               04/14/94
Texaco Inc./Leo Faulkner's Texaco.....  RF321-8673              04/13/94
Texaco Inc./Richmond Steel & Welding,   RF321-20970             04/15/94
 Inc.                                                                   
Transue & Williams Steel Forge et al..  RF272-77391             04/13/94
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dismissal

    The following submissions were dismissed: 

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                       Name                               Case No.      
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Arizona Chemical..................................  RF321-20517         
B&G Wood Products, Inc............................  RF272-82422         
City of Haysville, KS.............................  RF272-85588         
Dorazio's Texaco..................................  RF321-20670         
Eddie M. Vega Valle...............................  RF321-20833         
Elm Garage, Inc...................................  RF321-20513         
Garage Texaco De Teodoro Ruiz Brigoni.............  RF321-20832         
GCO Mineral Company...............................  RF321-20518         
Givens Texaco.....................................  RF321-18623         
Hanson's Texaco...................................  RF321-20810         
Henderson's Texaco................................  RF321-19288         
Highlands Texaco..................................  RF321-20897         
Hyde Park Super Service Station...................  RF321-20847         
International Paper Company.......................  RF321-20515         
J&R Texaco........................................  RF321-20815         
Jay & Al Texaco...................................  RF321-20950         
Masonite Corporation..............................  RF321-20516         
Nagel Service Station.............................  RF321-18707         
Walter Zable......................................  RF321-20929         
Wayne's Texaco....................................  RF321-20052         
Whitefish Bay School District.....................  RF272-82554         
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Copies of the full text of these decisions and orders are available 
in the Public Reference Room of the Office of Hearings and Appeals, 
room 1E-234, Forrestal Building, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., 
Washington, DC 20585, Monday through Friday, between the hours of 1 
p.m. and 5 p.m., except federal holidays. They are also available in 
Energy Management: Federal Energy Guidelines, a commercially published 
loose leaf reporter system.

    Dated: May 25, 1994.
George B. Breznay,
Director, Office of Hearings and Appeals.
[FR Doc. 94-13307 Filed 5-31-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P