[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 178 (Thursday, September 12, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 48147-48148]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-23355]



[[Page 48147]]

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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Notice of Issuance of Decisions and Orders for the Week of 
November 27 Through December 1, 1995

    During the week of November 27 through December 1, 1995, 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 28, 1996.
Thomas O. Mann,
Acting Director, Office of Hearings and Appeals.

Department of Energy

Office of Hearings and Appeals

Washington, D.C. 20585

Decision List No. 948

Week of November 27 Through December 1, 1995

Appeals

Burlin McKinney, 11/28/95, VFA-0094

    The Department of Energy (DOE) issued a Decision and Order (D&O) 
denying a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Appeal that was filed by 
Burlin McKinney. In his Appeal, Mr. McKinney sought access to the 
deleted portions of a memorandum concerning an interview of an 
individual with the Office of the Inspector General (OIG). Portions 
of the memorandum which tended to identify the individual were 
deleted pursuant to Exemptions six and seven of the FOIA. In the 
Decision, the DOE stated that the individual's interest in remaining 
anonymous outweighed the public interest in disclosure. The DOE 
therefore concluded that the OIG properly withheld the deleted 
portions of the document.

National Security Archive, 11/30/95, VFA-0095

    The National Security Archive (NSA) filed an Appeal from a 
determination issued by the Office of Policy (Policy) of the 
Department of Energy (DOE) in response to a request from NSA under 
the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). NSA requested documents 
concerning the US-Mexico oil negotiations during 1977-78. In 
considering the Appeal, the Office of Hearings and Appeals found 
that the scope of the search performed by Policy was not broad 
enough and that responsive documents may exist within the Office of 
General Counsel. Moreover, a new search was performed with 
additional information provided by NSA on appeal. This new search 
located possibly responsive documents. Accordingly, the Appeal was 
remanded to the Freedom of Information and Privacy Act Division of 
the DOE to (1) coordinate a search of the Office of General Counsel 
and (2) issue a determination with respect to the newly discovered 
documents.

Paul W. Fox, 11/30/95, VFA-0096

    Paul W. Fox filed an Appeal from a partial denial by the 
Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) of a Request For Information 
that he had submitted under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). 
The request concerned negotiations between the U.S. and Canada 
concerning delivery of electric power pursuant to the Columbia River 
Treaty.
    The documents at issue were withheld pursuant to the 
deliberative process privilege of Exemption 5, which applies to 
inter- or intra-agency documents.
    The DOE rejected the argument that documents could not be inter- 
or intra-agency if they were between BPA and the Mid-Columbia 
Partners (MCPs), a coalition of private power companies. The DOE 
found that the matter should be remanded to BPA to consider the 
purpose for which those documents were created, as the MCPs could be 
government consultants (and therefore intra-agency) where the 
documents were created primarily for the benefit of BPA. The DOE 
further noted that documents created by the MCPs might fall within 
the scope of Exemption 4. The DOE also rejected the contention that 
DOE waived any privilege for documents that it provided to the MCPs, 
since limited disclosure to outside parties with a common interest 
does not waive a privilege. In addition, the DOE noted that release 
of certain documents could undermine BPA's negotiation position with 
the Canadian authorities, and consequently, they could be withheld 
pursuant to Exemption 5's qualified privilege for commercial 
information. Finally, the DOE found that certain purely factual 
information, such as reports of meeting between the MCPs and 
Canadian officials could not be withheld pursuant to Exemption 5. 
Accordingly, the Appeal was granted in part and the matter was 
remanded to BPA.

Supplemental Order

National Recovery Aide, 12/1/95, VFX-0005

    The DOE issued a Decision and Order concerning National Recovery 
Aide. The DOE determined that National Recovery Aide will be denied 
the privilege of receiving refund checks on behalf of its applicants 
in all proceedings before the Office of Hearings and Appeals of the 
Department of Energy. Accordingly, refund checks will be made 
payable to, and sent directly to, the applicants.

Refund Applications

Georgia Kraft Company, 12/1/95, RK272-313

    The DOE issued a Decision and Order granting a supplemental 
crude oil refund to two companies, The Mead Corporation (Mead) and 
Inland Container Corporation (Inland). Mead and Inland were joint 
owners of the original applicant company, Georgia Kraft Company 
(GKC), which ceased to exist in 1993. The joint venture consisted of 
three mills, one of which was sold to a third party, Pratt 
Industries (Pratt), in 1987. When submitting their Application for 
Supplemental Refund, the three companies also submitted a 
contractual agreement in which they requested that the DOE 
distribute the crude oil supplemental refund monies among them based 
on a mutually agreed upon percentage breakdown. The DOE determined 
that complying with the agreement between the companies would mean 
abdicating its statutory responsibility to identify injured parties 
and provide restitution. In accordance with applicable procedure, 
the DOE granted the supplemental refund for GKC to Mead and Inland.

Quantum Chemical Corp., 11/28/95, RF272-64273, RD272-64273, RF272-
93712

    Quantum Chemical Corporation applied for a crude oil overcharge 
refund based on purchases of gasoline, diesel fuel, fuel oils, 
kerosene, cyclohexane, lube oils, propane, butane, isobutylene and 
ethane. The DOE found that the cyclohexane and isobutylene are 
petrochemicals and therefore not eligible for refunds. The DOE 
further found that Quantum had not demonstrated that the ethane that 
it purchased came from a crude oil refinery. Accordingly, Quantum's 
request for refunds based on its purchases of that product was 
denied. Quantum was granted a refund of $2,734,470 for the remaining 
eligible products. The DOE denied a Motion for Discovery filed by a 
group of States and dismissed a duplicate refund application 
inadventently filed by Quantum.

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/        RF304-15484                  12/01/95
 Jimmy's Arco.                                                          
Fremont Farmers Union Corp., et    RF272-86307                  11/28/95
 al.                                                                    

[[Page 48148]]

                                                                        
Globe Union, Inc.................  RF272-77429                  12/01/95
Gulf Oil Corporation/Chief         RF300-12744                  11/28/95
 Freight Lines Co. et al.                                               
Radcliffe Community School         RF272-95901                  11/28/95
 Distict et al.                                                         
Tajon, Inc.......................  RF272-97076                  12/01/95
Texaco Inc./Fairlawn Oil Service,  RF321-20700                  12/01/95
 Inc.                                                                   
Waybec Ltd. et al................  RK272-00001                  12/01/95
Wise Aviation....................  RF272-98001                  12/01/95
Zenda Grain Supply et al.........  RF272-97571                  11/28/95
                                                                        

Dismissals

    The following submissions were dismissed:

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                     Name                               Case No.        
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Air East, Inc................................  RF272-98019              
Pantasote, Inc...............................  RF272-78081              
The Pasha Group..............................  RF272-97413              
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[FR Doc. 96-23355 Filed 9-11-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P