[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 151 (Monday, August 8, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-19299]


[[Page Unknown]]

[Federal Register: August 8, 1994]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
 

Issuance of Decisions and Orders; Week of June 13 through June 
17, 1994

    During the Week of June 13 through June 17, 1994 the decisions and 
orders summarized with respect to appeals and applications for 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

Cowles Publishing Company, 6/14/94, LFA-0381

    Cowles Publishing Company (Cowles) filed an Appeal from a 
determination issued by the Office of Communications of the Department 
of Energy's Richland Operations Office (DOE/RL), in response to a 
request for information filed under the Freedom of Information Act 
(FOIA). Cowles sought records containing the names of the subjects of a 
radiation study conducted under a contract between the University of 
Washington and the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), a predecessor agency 
to the DOE. In considering the Appeal, the DOE found that the 
University of Washington, who possessed the records sought by Cowles, 
is not an ``agency'' as defined in the FOIA. In addition, the DOE found 
that the records in question were not created by the AEC, were not 
obtained by the AEC or DOE, and are not the property of the DOE. 
Therefore, these records were found not to be ``agency records'' 
subject to the FOIA. Accordingly, the Appeal was denied.

Marlene Flor, 6/14/94, LFA-0378

    Marlene Flor (Flor) filed an Appeal from a determination issued to 
her on May 4, 1994 by the Chief of the FOI and Privacy Branch, 
Reference and Information Management Division who denied a request for 
information, Flor had filed under the Freedom of Information Act 
(FOIA). The request sought information concerning ``any documentation 
that may exist on me elsewhere in the Department of Energy of a 
security or personnel security nature not already furnished to me since 
January 1, 1993.'' The FOI and Privacy Branch stated that a search was 
made of the files in the Office of Civil Rights and that no documents 
existed responsive to Flor's request. The Appeal challenged the 
adequacy of the search. In considering the Appeal, the DOE found that 
the initial searches conducted by the Office of Civil Rights were 
inadequate. Accordingly, Flor's Appeal was granted and the matter was 
remanded to the Office of Civil Rights to identify and release 
responsive documents it located in a subsequent search.

Refund Applications

Texaco Inc./Bill Burns Oil Co., 6/15/94, RF321-16330

    The DOE issued a Decision and Order granting an Application for 
Refund filed by Bill Burns Oil Co. (Burns) in the Texaco Inc. special 
refund proceeding. Burns sought a refund equal to its full allocable 
share based on its purchases of Texaco motor gasoline and middle 
distillates. In support of its claim of injury above the medium-range 
presumption level, the firm submitted information showing the status of 
its cumulative banked gasoline and middle distillate costs at the end 
of the respective ``banking'' regulation periods and a competitive 
disadvantage analysis for its Texaco purchases of each grade of motor 
gasoline and for middle distillates. The data submitted showed that 
Burns had accumulated sufficient banks to justify a full volumetric 
refund, and that the firm may have been experienced a substantial 
competitive disadvantage as a result of its purchases. The total refund 
amount granted was $25,755 ($18,411 principal and $7,344 interest).

Texaco Inc./D.E. Newman Oil Co., Inc. Commercial Lubricants Corp. D.E. 
Newman Oil Co., Inc., 6/16/94, RF321-9230, RF321-20665, RF321-20666

    The DOE issued a Decision and Order concerning two Applications for 
Refund filed in the Texaco Inc. special refund proceeding on behalf of 
D.E. Newman Oil Co., Inc. (Newman Oil). One application (RF321-9230) 
was filed by the former owner of the corporation, Mrs. D.E. Newman. The 
other application (RF321-20666) was filed on behalf of the Newman Oil 
Corporation by its current vice president. In September 1986, Mrs. 
Newman and her husband sold the Newman Oil stock to John Beasley. Since 
the sellers did not specifically retain the right to any refund in the 
sales agreement, the DOE found that the right to the refund was 
transferred to John Beasley, the current stockholder of the 
corporation. Accordingly, the DOE awarded the refund to D.E. Newman Oil 
Co., Inc. and denied the application filed by Mrs. Newman. The DOE also 
approved the Application for Refund filed by Commercial Lubricants 
Corp., an affiliate of D.E. Newman Oil Co., Inc. The purchase volumes 
of Newman Oil and Commercial Lubricants Corp. were combined to 
calculate one allocable share under the medium-range presumption of 
injury.

Texas Inc./State of Missouri, 6/15/94, RF321-14215

    The DOE issued a Decision and Order concerning an Application for 
Refund filed by the State of Missouri in the Texaco refund proceeding. 
The State of Missouri claimed that it had purchased 26,817,969 gallons 
of Texaco product during the refund period, but did not document these 
purchases. Instead, its purchases were estimated by multiplying the 
total amount of petroleum purchases made by the State of Missouri 
during the refund period by Texaco's market share in Missouri during 
the refund period. The DOE found that without any supporting data, this 
estimation methodology was not reasonable. Accordingly, the DOE granted 
the State of Missouri a refund based on the purchases that were 
actively documented in Texaco's records.

Texaco Inc./Texaco Self Serve, Inc., 6/14/94, RF321-7909

    The DOE issued a Decision and Order concerning an Application for 
Refund filed in the Texaco Inc. Subpart V special refund proceeding 
filed by Mr. Bill Guss on the basis of the sales of Texaco Self Serve, 
Inc., a motor gasoline retail sales outlet. While Mr. Guss requested 
that any refund check be made payable to him, the DOE found that Mr. 
J.W. Bird, the owner of the outlet, instead of Mr. Guss, was the proper 
applicant for a refund in this case. The DOE also found, however, that 
Mr. Bird had previously received a $10,000 mid-range presumption refund 
in the Texaco proceeding on the basis of the sales of Bird Oil Co., a 
firm in which he was the majority owner. As in previous proceedings, 
the DOE found that in the case of firms under common ownership and 
control, such as Bird Oil and the Self Serve outlet, the sales of the 
two should be combined in calculating any refunds to be granted. In any 
case, the DOE also found that the Texaco purchases of the outlet had 
been made from Bird Oil, and that consequently a further, duplicative 
refund was not warranted. Therefore, the Texaco Self Serve Application 
was denied.

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. 

Atlantic Richfield Company/Carl's ARCO et al..............................  RF304-14047                 06/14/94
Atlantic Richfield Company/CFW Construction Co., Inc. et al...............  RF304-14371                 06/17/94
Atlantic Richfield Company/Williams ARCO..................................  RF304-14574                 06/14/94
Williams ARCO.............................................................  RF304-14575                         
Enron Corp./Gas Service, Inc..............................................  RF340-166                   06/17/94
Midlothian Butane Gas Co., Inc............................................  RF340-174                           
Schneider L. P. Gas.......................................................  RF340-194                           
Gulf Oil Corporation/B & B Gulf et al.....................................  RF300-20311                 06/14/94
Gulf Oil Corporation/G.J. Creel & Sons, Inc...............................  RF300-5757                  06/17/94
Gulf Oil Corporation/Hubert C. Poling.....................................  RF300-18714                 06/17/94
Courtesy Gulf #1..........................................................  RF300-19618                         
Wayne Wilkinson's Gulf....................................................  RF300-19654                         
Gulf Oil Corporation/Watson's Gulf Service................................  RF300-13682                 06/17/94
Bob Carlson Gulf Service..................................................  RF300-18801                         
Gulf Oil Corporation/William C. Eaton, Inc................................  RF300-14384                 06/15/94
Texaco Inc./Beach Expressway Texaco.......................................  RF321-21000                 06/14/94
Texaco Inc./Northwood Texaco Service et al................................  RF321-19330                06/16/94 
                                                                                                                

Dismissals

    The following submissions were dismissed: 

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                         Name                               Case No.    
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Bob & Jack's Texaco...................................  RF321-19792     
Bob & Jack's Texaco...................................  RF321-14282     
Bob and Jack's Goodyear Tire..........................  RF321-20938     
Bob's Sycamore Texaco.................................  RF321-14283     
Buick's Texaco........................................  RF321-8397      
Early's Mail Service..................................  RF272-91611     
Edward S. Kelton Contracting Co., Inc.................  RF321-20059     
Floyd's Texaco........................................  RF321-8391      
Ken's Gulf............................................  RF300-15822     
Kenneth H. Besecker...................................  LFA-0377        
Lei Lani, Inc. #2.....................................  RF321-608       
Moore's Texaco #1.....................................  RF321-19475     
Moore's Texaco #2.....................................  RF321-19476     
National Car Rental, Inc..............................  RF300-20051     
PPG Industries, Inc...................................  RF321-20069     
Rich-Mar Maintenance, Inc.............................  RF272-92109     
Svoboda Texaco Service................................  RF321-1315      
Wilhelm Company.......................................  RF272-91640     
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    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 1:00 
p.m. and 5:00 p.m., except federal holidays. They are also available in 
Energy Management: Federal Energy Guidelines, a commercially published 
loose leaf reporter system.

    Dated: August 1, 1994.
George B. Breznay,
Director, Office of Hearings and Appeals.
[FR Doc. 94-19299 Filed 8-5-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P