[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 178 (Thursday, September 12, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 48150-48151]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-23358]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------


DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Notice of Issuance of Decisions and Orders During the Week of 
January 22 Through January 26, 1996

    During the week of January 22 through January 26, 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, SW, 
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.

Appeals

David R. McMurdo, 1/25/96, VFA-0109

    David R. McMurdo (Appellant) filed an Appeal under the Privacy Act 
of a December 7, 1995 determination issued to him by the DOE's Richland 
Operations Office (Richland). The Appellant, who had been employed by a 
sub-contractor on the Hanford Reservation, had requested all medical 
and personnel records held by Richland concerning him. On Appeal, the 
Appellant contended that the DOE's search for responsive documents was 
inadequate. After considering his Appeal, the DOE found that Richland's 
search for responsive documents was adequate. Accordingly, the Appeal 
was denied.

Nathaniel Hendricks, 1/26/96, VFA-0106

    Nathaniel Hendricks (Appellant) filed an Appeal from a 
determination issued by the DOE's Office of Human Radiation Experiments 
(OHRE) in response to a request under the Freedom of Information Act 
(FOIA). The request related to the alleged release of radiation in the 
Chicago area in the early 1940s. The Chicago Operations Office (COO) 
and the OHRE conducted searches for responsive documents. The Appellant 
did not appeal the COO's determination, but appealed the OHRE 
determination, claiming that the OHRE had not performed an adequate 
search for responsive documents. In the interests of a factually 
complete determination, the DOE investigated the searches of the COO 
and the OHRE. With respect to the COO search, conducted by its 
contractor, Argonne National Laboratory (Argonne), the DOE discovered 
that Argonne possessed 5,000 notebooks of possibly responsive material, 
which had been determined likely to be radioactive. According to 
Argonne, the notebooks had never been examined due to the high costs of 
conducting the

[[Page 48151]]

necessary radioactivity study and examination of such a large quantity 
of material. In its Decision, the DOE determined that it was 
unreasonable to require the COO to review the notebooks and concluded 
that the COO's search was adequate. However, the DOE concluded that the 
OHRE's search of the two databases available to it was inadequate 
because of the failure to search for certain prominent terms used in 
the Appellant's request. Accordingly, the DOE granted the Appeal and 
remanded the matter to the OHRE for further action.

Terrence Willingham, 1/22/96, VFA-0100

    Terrence Willingham (Appellant) filed an Appeal from a 
determination issued to him by the DOE's Office of the Executive 
Secretariat (ES). The Appellant asserted that the ES failed to conduct 
an adequate search for documents responsive to two Freedom of 
Information Act (FOIA) requests. The Appellant requested copies of all 
documents containing information pertaining to various job 
announcements concerning the Director and Deputy Director of the DOE's 
Office of Civil Rights. In its determination letter, the ES produced 42 
documents. The Appellant asserted that the ES conducted an inadequate 
search. The DOE found that the ES conducted an adequate search with 
regard to almost all of categories of information. The DOE further 
found, however, that the search concerning several of the requested 
categories of information was inadequate. Finally, the DOE found that a 
portion of one of the documents provided to the Appellant, minutes of a 
meeting (Minutes Document), had been deleted without providing the 
Appellant a statement of the reasons for the withholding. Consequently, 
the DOE remanded the matter for a (i) further search for responsive 
documents and (ii) a determination concerning whether the withheld 
portion of the Minutes Document was releasable.

Williams & Trine, P.C., 1/25/96, VFA-0108

    William & Trine, P.C. (Appellant) filed an Appeal from denials 
issued by the Ohio Field Office (DOE/OH) and the FOIA/Privacy Act 
Division (DOE/HQ) of a Request of Information which the firm had 
submitted under the Freedom of Information Act (the FOIA). In 
considering the Appeal, the DOE found that the requested information, 
documentation of the shipment of hazardous or radioactive material from 
any DOE facility to a facility of the Appellant's client, Cotter 
Corporation in Colorado, did not exist because no shipments of such 
material were ever made. Accordingly, the Appeal was denied.

Personnel Security Hearing

Oak Ridge Operations Office, 1/25/96, VSO-0057

    An OHA Hearing Officer issued an opinion concerning the eligibility 
for restoration of access authorization of an individual who 
untruthfully stated on a Questionnaire for Sensitive Positions and in 
two Personnel Security Interviews that he had a college degree. The 
Hearing Officer found that due to this falsification the individual was 
untrustworthy. Accordingly, the Hearing Officer found 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.

Atlantic Richfield Company/Easy Times ARCO...............  RF304-13145                                  01/22/96
ARCO Mini Market.........................................  RF304-15479                            ..............
Crude Oil Supple. Refund Dist............................  RB272-62                                     01/22/96
Crude Oil Supple. Refund Dist............................  RB272-64                                     01/22/96
Crude Oil Supple. Refund Dist............................  RB272-63                                     01/22/96
Crude Oil Supple. Refund Dist............................  RB272-42                                     01/22/96
Crude Oil Supplemental Refund Dist.......................  RB272-00033                                  01/24/96
Elmer Hendrix, Jr., et al................................  RK272-00110                                  01/24/96
Libby Rink, et al........................................  RK272-01616                                  01/22/96
Northern Ohio Trucking, et al............................  RF272-85025                                  01/22/96
St. Patrick's Church, et al..............................  RF272-99107                                  01/22/96
                                                                                                                

Dismissals

    The following submissions were dismissed:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                     Name                               Case No.        
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Americair, Inc...............................  RF272-97954              
Amerijet International.......................  RF272-97948              
Aviation Associates, Inc.....................  RF272-98721              
Boston and Maine Corporation.................  RF272-97248              
Executive Airlines...........................  RF272-97988              
Flight International, Inc....................  RF272-97992              
I.E. Miller & Company........................  RF272-98429              
Long Island Airlines.........................  RF272-97989              
Maine Central Railroad.......................  RF272-97251              
Maxair, Inc..................................  RF272-97990              
Portland Terminal Company....................  RF272-97249              
Springfield Terminal Railway.................  RF272-97250              
Tanana Air Service...........................  RF272-97994              
Taylor's ARCO................................  RF304-14251              
Wellen Oil and Chemical......................  RF300-18517              
------------------------------------------------------------------------

[FR Doc. 96-23358 Filed 9-11-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P