[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 36 (Thursday, February 23, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10077-10079]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-4427]



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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Notice of Issuance of Decisions and Orders During the Week of 
December 19 through December 23, 1994

    During the week of December 19 through December 23, 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.

Appeal

E.O. Smelser, 12/21/94, VFA-0011

    E.O. Smelser filed a Motion for Reconsideration of the denial by 
the Office of Hearings and Appeals of his previous Freedom of 
Information Act (FOIA) Appeal. In his original FOIA request, Mr. 
Smelser had requested copies of computer tapes for databases created 
under a grant program which the DOE had funded. In considering the 
Motion, the OHA found that Mr. Smelser did not introduce any new 
evidence or changed circumstances that would warrant granting the 
motion for reconsideration. Accordingly, the Motion was denied.

Requests for Exception

Bender Oil Company, 12/19/94, LEE-0150

    Bender Oil Company (Bender) filed an Application for Exception from 
the provisions of the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reporting 
requirements in which the firm sought relief from filing Form EIA-782B, 
entitled ``Resellers'/Retailers' Monthly Petroleum Product Sales 
Report.'' The DOE determined that Bender did not meet the standards for 
exception relief because it was not experiencing a serious hardship or 
gross inequity as a result of the reporting requirements. Accordingly, 
exception relief was denied.

Berreth Oil, Inc., 12/20/94, LEE-0093

    Berreth Oil, Inc. (Berreth) 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,'' and Form EIA-821, the ``Annual Fuel Oil and Kerosene 
Sales Report.'' In considering this request, the DOE found that the 
firm was not suffering a gross inequity or serious hardship. On July 
25, 1994, the DOE issued a Proposed Decision and Order determining that 
the exception request should be denied. No Notice of Objections to the 
Proposed Decision and Order was filed at the Office of Hearings and 
Appeals of the DOE within the prescribed time period. Therefore, the 
DOE issued the Proposed Decision and Order in final form, denying 
Berreth's Application for Exception.

Personnel Security Hearing

Albuquerque Operations Office, 12/22/94, VSO-0001

    The Office of Hearings and Appeals issued the first Hearing Officer 
Opinion addressing the continued eligibility of an individual for 
access authorization under the newly amended provisions of 10 C.F.R. 
Part 710, ``Criteria and Procedures for Determining Eligibility for 
Access to Classified Matter or Special Nuclear Material.'' After 
carefully considering the record in view of the standards set forth in 
10 C.F.R. Part 710, the Hearing Officer found that the individual had 
engaged in criminal behavior which tended to show that she was not 
honest, reliable, or trustworthy, and that she had omitted significant 
information from a Questionnaire for Sensitive Positions. The Hearing 
Officer also found that there were no mitigating [[Page 10078]] factors 
present in the case which can overcome the security concerns raised by 
the Department of Energy. Accordingly, the Hearing Officer found that 
the individual's access authorization, which had been suspended, should 
not be restored.

Refund Applications

Hunt-Wesson, Inc., Hunt-Wesson, Inc., Waterloo Industries, Aristokraft, 
Inc., Playtex Products, 12/23/94, RF272-73865, RD272-73865, RF272-
97916, RF272-97941, RF272-98638

    The DOE issued a Decision and Order concerning Application for 
Refund submitted in the Subpart V crude oil refund proceeding by four 
former affiliates of Beatrice Co., Inc. Hunt-Wesson, Inc., Waterloo 
Industries, Aristokraft, Inc., and Playtex Products. The four 
applicants were found to have been affiliated with Arrowhead Drinking 
Water Company (Arrowhead) on August 7, 1986. Arrowhead had filed in the 
Surface Transporters Stripper Well proceeding. In doing so, Arrowhead 
had executed a waiver and release waiving its rights and the rights of 
its affiliates on August 7, 1986, to receive crude oil overcharge 
refunds. Accordingly, the DOE denied these four Applications for 
Refund. Because the DOE denied these Applications, the DOE also 
dismissed as moot a Motion for Discovery filed by a consortium of 
States and two Territories to Hunt-Wesson, Inc.'s Application for 
Refund.

Texaco Inc./Carlton Hills Texaco, Harry's Texaco, 12/23/94, RF321-
20424, RF321-21044

    Dale Fuller filed an Application for Refund in the Texaco, Inc. 
special refund proceeding on behalf of a retail outlet located on 
Carlton Hills Boulevard in Santee, California. Mr. Fuller's claimed 
dates of ownership conflicted with the dates claimed by Harry Orsulak, 
in Case No. RF321-18438, redesignated Case No. RF321-21044, and another 
applicant Mitchel Carter, in Case No. RF321-9802, both of whom had 
previously received refunds for purchases made by that outlet. The OHA 
determined that Mr. Orsulak was not entitled to the refund which he 
received for purchases made by the Carlton Hills outlet beginning in 
March 1973. In addition, the OHA determined that Mr. Fuller was 
eligible for a refund for the purchases made from March 1973 through 
November 1976, when Mr. Carter assured operation of the outlet. The OHA 
issued a Supplemental Decision and Order, granting Mr. Fuller's 
Application for Refund for the period March 1973 through November 1976, 
and instructing Mr. Orsulak to repay his refund.

Texaco Inc./Guttman Oil Company, 12/20/94, RF321-17026

    Guttman Oil Company (Guttman) filed an Application for Refund in 
the Texaco Inc. special refund proceeding. Rather than accept $50,000, 
the maximum refund under the medium-range presumption of injury, 
Guttman attempted to show that it was injured in its purchases of 
Texaco products. With respect to motor gasoline, Guttman sought a 
refund of 43 percent of the volumetric amount based upon a claim that 
it absorbed that percentage of the overcharges. Guttman sought an 
above-volumetric refund with respect to its diesel fuel purchases based 
upon a disproportionate overcharge.
    The DOE rejected Guttman's contention that lower than historical 
profit margins in its resale of motor gasoline implied that it was 
injured. The DOE noted that Guttman's profit margin analysis showed 
little more than its bank calculations and that depressed profit 
margins could have resulted from causes unrelated to the price it paid 
Texaco for product.
    The DOE agreed with Guttman that it had sustained a 
disproportionate overcharge based upon the findings of a Remedial Order 
that had been issued to Texaco concerning diesel fuel transactions. The 
DOE, however, found that Guttman's calculation of banked costs had to 
be adjusted to take into account the findings in another Remedial Order 
that had been issued to it. A revised bank calculation showed that in 
September 1975, Guttman had a bank of unrecovered product costs of 
$1,949, but that subsequent to that month the firm had a sufficient 
bank to justify the overcharge claims. This indicated that the firm had 
passed through to its customers all but $1,949 of the diesel fuel 
overcharges that occurred through September 1975. The DOE found that 
Guttman had absorbed $67,095 in diesel fuel overcharges between 
September 1975 and June 1976, and that Guttman was entitled to pre-
settlement interest (for the period between the date of the overcharge 
and the date Texaco paid the settlement to DOE) on this amount. Since 
the Texaco consent order settled the alleged violations at a fraction 
of their value, the DOE reduced the resulting overcharge amount to 57.5 
percent (the ratio of the consent order amount to the total overcharges 
that had been alleged by DOE). Guttman was accordingly granted a refund 
of $160,645, plus interest that has accrued on this amount since the 
Texaco funds were placed in an escrow account.

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.

A-1 Truck & Trailer Rentals, Inc..........................................  RC272-267                   12/20/94
Al Tech Specialty Steel Corp. et al.......................................  RF272-93541                 12/20/94
Atlantic Richfield Company/John Pellegrino Arco et al.....................  RF304-14707                 12/19/94
Burnup & Sims, Inc. et al.................................................  RF272-92013                 12/19/94
City of Athens, Texas et al...............................................  RF272-85535                 12/21/94
Gloucester County, NJ et al...............................................  RF272-96502                 12/21/94
Gulf Oil Corporation/Chicot Implement Co. et al...........................  RF300-18845                 12/19/94
Gulf Oil Corporation/Sherman Foundry, Inc. et al..........................  RF300-21525                 12/20/94
Gulf Oil Corporation/U.S. Radium Corporation et al........................  RF300-21605                 12/21/94
Gulf Power Company........................................................  RF272-93556                 12/23/94
Duke Power Company........................................................  RF272-93569           ..............
Halltown Paperboard Company...............................................  RF272-67486                 12/21/94
Richmond County et al.....................................................  RF272-95512                 12/20/94
Shawano-Greshan Sch. Dist. et al..........................................  RF272-80955                 12/23/94
Shell Oil Company/Silver Port Shell.......................................  RF315-3393                  12/20/94
Stratton Equity Coop Co. et al............................................  RF272-92372                 12/23/94
Texaco Inc./Art & Jim's Texaco Service et al..............................  RF321-20808                 12/20/94
Texaco Inc./Crowley Texaco et al..........................................  RF321-20204                 12/23/94
Texaco Inc./Don Fortunati's Texaco et al..................................  RF321-20408                 12/20/94
Texaco Inc./Don's Service Station et al...................................  RF321-12545                 12/23/94
[[Page 10079]]                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                
Texaco Inc./Landry & Martin Oil Co., Inc..................................  RF321-20444                 12/20/94
Texaco Inc./Maverick Oil Co...............................................  RF321-19887                 12/20/94
Maverick Oil Co...........................................................  RF321-19888           ..............
Maverick Oil Co...........................................................  RF321-19889           ..............
Maverick Oil Co...........................................................  RF321-19890           ..............
Maverick Oil Co...........................................................  RF321-19891           ..............
Maverick Oil Co...........................................................  RF321-19892           ..............
Texaco Inc./Walker's Service Station et al................................  RF321-12775                 12/23/94
                                                                                                                

Dismissals

    The following submissions were dismissed:

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                       Name                               Case No.      
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72nd Street Association...........................  RF272-77810         
Ambassador Towne House Associates.................  RF272-77814         
C.W. Faust & Sons.................................  RF272-94798         
Central School District #1........................  RF272-96535         
Gracie Towne House................................  RF272-77856         
Morton Pickman....................................  RF272-77826         
Orleans County Hwy. Dept..........................  RF272-96534         
Pepperidge Farm, Inc..............................  RF272-93551         
Rocky Flats Field Office..........................  VSO-0006            
Salt Lake County, UT..............................  RF272-96642         
Savannah Electric and Power Co....................  RF321-20919         
Sunnyside Shell...................................  RF321-8231          
Tanner's Shell....................................  RF315-9719          
Ten East Housing Company..........................  RF272-77825         
The Pillsbury Company.............................  RF321-20776         
Thelma Realty.....................................  RF272-77848         
University Associates.............................  RF272-77812         
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    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, S.W., 
Washington, D.C. 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: February 15, 1995.
Thomas O. Mann,
Acting Director, Office of Hearings and Appeals.
[FR Doc. 95-4427 Filed 2-22-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P