[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 39 (Tuesday, February 27, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 7254-7255]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-4407]



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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Notice of Issuance of Decisions and Orders by the Office of 
Hearings and Appeals; Week of May 22 Through May 26, 1995

    During the week of May 22 through May 26, 1995, the decisions and 
orders summarized below were issued 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.

Appeal

A. Victorian, 5/22/95, VFA-0036

    Dr. A. Victorian (Appellant) filed an Appeal from a final 
determination by the Acting Director of the Office of Intergovernmental 
and External Affairs of the Albuquerque Operations Office of the 
Department of Energy (DOE/AL). DOE/AL withheld certain documents 
identified as responsive to Appellant's request on the grounds that 
they contained sensitive and personal information. Although the person 
named in the documents was deceased, DOE/AL found that the surviving 
relatives of the named individual had a privacy interest in the 
information and withheld the documents under Exemption 6. In 
considering the Appeal, the DOE found that while a privacy interest in 
the information existed, DOE/AL did not balance this interest against 
the public interest in disclosing the information. Accordingly, the 
Appeal was remanded to DOE/AL so that it could balance the privacy 
interest of surviving relatives against the public interest in 
disclosure in a manner consistent with this Decision.

Personnel Security Hearings

Albuquerque Operations Office, 5/22/95, VSO-0018

    An OHA Hearing Officer issued an Opinion recommending against 
restoring the access authorization of a DOE contractor employee. The 
employee's ``Q'' clearance had been suspended by the Operations Office 
Manager after a DOE-sponsored psychiatrist found that the employee was 
a user of alcohol habitually to excess and suffered from ``substance 
abuse, alcohol,'' a mental condition which causes or may cause a 
significant defect in judgment or reliability. The 

[[Page 7255]]
evidence in the record indicated that the employee had a lengthy 
history of arrests and convictions for alcohol-related traffic 
offenses, including two within the last 18 months. At the hearing, the 
employee admitted that he had been an alcohol abuser, but introduced 
evidence of his progress towards rehabilitation during the six month 
period immediately prior to the hearing. The Hearing Officer concluded 
that the employee had not as yet abstained from alcohol long enough to 
demonstrate that he was rehabilitated from his drinking problem, and 
that as a result, the employee's history of alcohol abuse still raised 
serious security concerns. For these reasons, the Hearing Officer 
concluded that the employee had failed to show that restoring the 
employee's access authorization would not endanger the common defense 
and security and would be clearly consistent with the national 
interest.

Albuquerque Operations Office, 5/25/95, VSO-0019

    A DOE Hearing Officer issued an Opinion concerning the eligibility 
of an individual for continued ``Q'' access authorization. Tests 
conducted as part of a routine annual physical examination indicated 
that the individual had used cocaine. The individual claimed that he 
had not used cocaine. He argued that this use of certain over-the-
counter medications prior to the drug test should have resulted in 
positive results for drugs other than cocaine, and that the lack of 
such results proved that the tested specimen was not his. After 
reviewing the chain-of-custody documentation for the specimen and 
considering expert testimony on the effects of over-the-counter 
medications on drug tests, the Hearing Officer found that the tested 
specimen was the individual's and the individual must have used 
cocaine. The Hearing Officer, therefore, found that the individual's 
denials of cocaine use were falsifications and that the individual had 
violated a drug certification which he had signed. The Hearing Officer 
concluded that the individual's access authorization should not be 
restored.

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.

                                                                                                                
Crude Oil Supple. Refund Distribution et al..............  RB272-4                                      05/23/95
Crude Oil Supplemental Refund Distribution et al.........  RB272-3                                      05/23/95
Gloucester Trucking......................................  RF272-97259                                  05/23/95
Kessler Institute for Rehab et al........................  RF272-92130                                  05/23/95
Squaw Transit Co.........................................  RF272-74580                                  05/23/95
Squaw Transit Co.........................................  RD272-74580                                          
Texaco Inc./Al's Texaco..................................  RF321-13059                                  05/22/95
Texaco Inc./Associated Transport, Inc....................  RF321-13106                                  05/23/95
                                                                                                                

Dismissals

    The following submissions were dismissed:

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                     Name                               Case No.        
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Albany Independent School District...........  RF272-97390              
Andy's Texaco................................  RF321-20772              
Bill Clendening Texaco.......................  RF321-20749              
Energy Cooperative, Inc......................  RF340-120                
Gall Silica Mining Co., Inc..................  RF272-97436              
Harvey Texaco................................  RF321-20766              
Leaseway Transportation Corp.................  RF272-97308              
Liberty County Board of Commissioners........  RF272-97432              
Oklahoma State University....................  RF272-98486              
Richard M. Ross..............................  VFA-0042                 
Roaring Spring, PA...........................  RF272-86781              
Texaco Gas Station...........................  RF321-20762              
The Gates Rubber Company.....................  RF272-88647              
The Gates Rubber Company.....................  RF272-93720              
Unico, Inc...................................  RF321-6384               
Valley Line Company..........................  RF272-98124              
Victoria Independent School District.........  RF272-97440              
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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 14, 1996.
George B. Breznay,
Director, Office of Hearings and Appeals.
[FR Doc. 96-4407 Filed 2-26-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P