[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 177 (Wednesday, September 11, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 47925-47926]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-23184]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Notice of Issuance of Decisions and Orders During the Week of 
March 4 Through March 8, 1996

    During the week of March 4 through March 8, 1996, the decisions and 
orders summarized below were issued with respect to appeals, 
applications, petitions, or other requests 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.
    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. 20585-0107, 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. Some decisions and 
orders are available on the Office of Hearings and Appeals World Wide 
Web site at http://www.oha.doe.gov.

    Dated: August 30, 1996.
Richard W. Dugan,
Acting Director, Office of Hearings and Appeals.

Decision List No. 962

Week of March 4 Through March 8, 1996

Appeal

Kenneth H. Besecker, 3/4/96, VFA-0124

    The Department of Energy (DOE) issued a Decision and Order granting 
a Freedom of Information Act Appeal that was filed by Kenneth H. 
Besecker. In his Appeal, Mr. Besecker contested the adequacy of the 
search for documents responsive to his request. In his request, Mr. 
Besecker sought access to the contract under which the investigation of 
a particular EEOC complaint was carried out. In his Appeal, Mr. 
Besecker contended that a portion of the contract called the 
``Statement of Work'' was not included in the documents provided to 
him. In the Decision, the DOE found that there were two statements of 
work generated in connection with the contract in question, and that 
Mr. Besecker had been provided with only one. The DOE examined the 
second statement of work, found it to be responsive to the request and 
not exempt from mandatory disclosure under the FOIA, and released it to 
Mr. Besecker.

Personnel Security Hearings

Albuquerque Operations Office, 3/7/96, VSX-0020

    Upon remand from the Director, an Office of Hearings and Appeals 
Hearing Officer issued an Opinion concerning the eligibility of an 
individual to hold an access authorization under 10 C.F.R. Part 710, 
``Criteria and Procedures for Determining Eligibility for Access to 
Classified Matter and Special Nuclear Material. The DOE had charged 
that the individual had (i) deliberately omitted significant 
information (concerning use of illegal drugs) from a Personnel Security 
Questionnaire, (ii) used illegal drugs, and (iii) engaged in conduct 
showing that he was not reliable (due to use of illegal drugs to allay 
panic attacks and anxiety). The individual failed to testify at his 
hearing or provide any other evidence to rebut the derogatory evidence 
of the DOE. Accordingly, the Hearing Officer found that the 
individual's access authorization should not be restored.

Pittsburgh Naval Reactors Office, 3/7/96, VSA-0041

    Upon review, the Director, Office of Hearings and Appeals, 
concurred with the Hearing Officer's recommendation in Case No. VSA-
0041 that access authorization not be restored to the appellant 
employee. The Director found that the employee had failed to mitigate 
valid security concerns raised by his pattern of financial 
irresponsibility.

[[Page 47926]]

Richland Operations Office, 3/7/96, VSA-0044

    An individual whose access authorization had been suspended filed a 
request for review of a DOE Hearing Officer's recommendation against 
its restoration. The individual's access authorization had been 
suspended by the Department of Energy's (DOE) Richland Operations 
Office (Richland) upon its receipt of derogatory information indicating 
that the individual was a habitual user of alcohol to excess, used 
illegal drugs and had deliberately provided DOE security officials with 
false or misleading information.
    Upon review, the individual claimed that he had been rehabilitated. 
The Director found that while he might have been rehabilitated from his 
prior substance abuse, he had not demonstrated the high degree of 
candor expected of a holder of a DOE access authorization. Accordingly, 
the Director recommended that the individual's security clearance not 
be restored.

Refund Applications

American Synthetic Rubber Corp., 3/7/96, RF272-61843; RD272-61843

    The DOE issued a Decision and Order granting an Application for 
Refund filed by American Synthetic Rubber Corporation (ASR) in the 
crude oil overcharge refund proceeding. The DOE rejected the firm's 
claims for refunds based on purchases of butadiene, styrene, and gear 
compounds, finding that ASR had not shown that these products were 
purchased from a crude oil refinery. The DOE approved refunds for a 
number of other products purchased by the firm, which were products 
that were regulated during the refund period. These products included 
toluene, gasoline, staining and non-staining oils, and lubricating 
oils. ASR's total refund was $47,077. The DOE denied a Motion for 
Discovery filed by a consortium of States.

GS Roofing Products Co., Inc., 3/7/96 RR272-213

    The DOE issued a Decision and Order denying a Motion for 
Reconsideration filed by GS Roofing Products Co. in the Subpart V crude 
oil refund proceeding. GS Roofing had been granted an earlier refund 
based on all of the firm's purchases of petroleum products. GS later 
submitted additional information pertaining to other purchases after 
the filing deadline in the crude oil proceeding. Since these purchases 
were not included in its original claim and the firm did not have a 
good reason for omitting these purchases, the Motion 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.

138 Scap, Inc. et al...............................................  RK272-01153                        03/04/96
Crude Oil Supple. Ref. Dist........................................  RB272-0069                         03/04/96
Department of the Army--Corps of Engineers, Memphis................  RF272-92574                        03/04/96
Elizabethtown Gas Co...............................................  RF272-78134                        03/04/96
Fergus High School #1 et al........................................  RF272-96231                        03/04/96
Gulf Oil Corporation/Corkle & Fox Gulf et al.......................  RF300-15046                        03/04/96
Gulf Oil Corporation/Hodgson Gulf et al............................  RF300-16666                        03/04/96
Gulf Oil Corporation/Road Builders, Inc............................  RF300-21831                        03/07/96
James T. Bolton et al..............................................  RK272-2464                         03/04/96
P & G Motor Freight, Inc...........................................  RF272-97085                        03/07/96
Silveria Land Leveling.............................................  RK272-0450                         03/04/96
Steinberger Oil Company............................................  RF272-78164                        03/04/96
Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportaion et al.......  RK272-02957                        03/07/96
The Gilbert Spruance Co. et al.....................................  RK272-03214                        03/04/96
                                                                                                                

Dismissals

    The following submissions were dismissed:

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                     Name                               Case No.        
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Bass Petroleum Co., Inc......................  RF300-20361              
Bob's Gulf...................................  RF300-17570              
Burns Concrete, Inc..........................  VFA-0127                 
Dewey Jackson, Inc...........................  RF300-20450              
Ellsworth Freight Lines......................  RR272-228                
Gulf Tri City Oil Company....................  RF300-20301              
Hiram Castilleja S.S.........................  RF300-15283              
Larry's Gulf.................................  RF300-13326              
Larry's Gulf.................................  RF300-13327              
Mystic Fuel, Inc.............................  RF300-20396              
Parton Oil Company...........................  RF300-16768              
Yates Gulf No. 1.............................  RF300-17883              
Yates Gulf No. 2.............................  RF300-17884              
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[FR Doc. 96-23184 Filed 9-10-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P