[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 181 (Tuesday, September 17, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 48948-48950]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-23737]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Issuance of Decisions and Orders; Week of August 5 Through August 
9, 1996

    During the week of August 5 through August 9, 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: September 9, 1996.
George B. Breznay
Director, Office of Hearings and Appeals.

Decision List No. 984

Appeals

Marlene Flor, 8/5/96, VFA-0184

    Marlene Flor filed an Appeal from a determination issued to her on 
May 16, 1996 by the Department of Energy's Albuquerque Operations 
Office (AO) which denied a request for information she had filed under 
the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The request sought the time and 
attendance sheets for each employee of the Kirtland Area Office 
Contracts and Business Management Organization (CBMO). AO released 
redacted copies of the requested records from which the leave codes and 
description of the type of leave were deleted. AO determined, pursuant 
to Exemption 6 of the FOIA, that disclosure of this information would 
violate the privacy of the employees and would not be in the public 
interest. Flor's Appeal challenged the application of Exemption 6 to 
the withheld information. She contended that the ``type of leave one 
takes is not personal in the same sense as one's date of birth, 
employment history, etc., as AO claims * * *.'' Flor further contended 
that release of the requested information would further the public 
interest because it would reveal how AO treats its whistleblowers. In 
considering the Appeal, the DOE found that although the requested 
information is not as significantly private as other personal 
information such as home addresses and social security numbers, the 
public release of this information will nevertheless result in, at the 
least, a minimal invasion of privacy. DOE further found that there was 
no apparent public interest to balance against the minimal invasion of 
personal privacy and therefore AO properly withheld the requested 
information. Accordingly, the Appeal was denied.

Stand of Amarillo, Inc., 8/9/96, VFA-0157

    Stand of Amarillo, Inc. (STAND) filed an Appeal of a determination 
issued to it by the Albuquerque Operations Office of the Department of 
Energy (DOE) in response to a Request for Information submitted under 
the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). STAND had requested documents it 
saw as a protestant before the Texas Natural Resource Conservation 
Commission concerning two environmental permits for the Pantex Plant 
which the DOE and Mason & Hanger-Silas Mason Co. (Mason & Hanger), the 
prime contractor for the Pantex Plant, had jointly requested. Although 
a few documents were released to STAND, Mason & Hanger claimed the vast 
majority are internal legal documents, contractually its property and 
not subject to the FOIA. In considering the Appeal, the DOE found that 
after STAND filed its Appeal, both environmental permits were issued. 
Under these conditions, both the DOE and Mason & Hanger previously had 
agreed to search and release records to STAND. Accordingly, the Appeal 
was denied in part, granted in part, and remanded to the Albuquerque 
Operations Office for a new determination. However, because this is the 
second Appeal on STAND's request, the DOE believes that a new 
determination should be issued within ninety days of the Albuquerque 
Operations Office's receipt of this Decision and Order.

Personnel Security Hearing

Oakland Operations Office, 8/7/96, VSO-0094

    An Office of Hearings and Appeals Hearing Officer issued an opinion 
concerning an individual whose access authorization was suspended 
because he had tested positive for use of amphetamines (speed). 
Although the individual admitted to using the illegal drug, he 
attempted to minimize the seriousness of the event by claiming he had 
only used a very small amount of speed on a one-time only basis with a 
friend from out of town. The Hearing Officer found that the individual 
had failed to corroborate his account of the drug use, because he did 
not produce witnesses to support his version of the events surrounding 
the use of speed, particularly the out of town friend. She also found 
that the testimony of the individual's psychologist did not strongly 
support the individual's claim of rehabilitation from drug use. 
Accordingly, the Hearing Officer found

[[Page 48949]]

that the individual's access authorization should not be restored.

Request for Exception

R.W. Hays Company, 8/8/96, VEE-0026

    R.W. Hays Company filed an Application for Exception from the 
requirement that it file Form EIA-782B, the ``Reseller/Retailer's 
Monthly Petroleum Product Sales Report.'' The DOE found that the firm 
was not affected by the reporting requirement in a manner significantly 
different from other similar firms, and consequently was not 
experiencing a special hardship, inequity, or unfair distribution of 
burdens. Accordingly, the firm's Application for Exception was denied.

Refund Applications

Gulf Oil Corp./Walnut Creek Gulf, 8/8/96, RF300-16584, RF300-21751

    The DOE issued a Decision and Order, denying two refund 
applications filed on behalf of Walnut Creek Gulf (Walnut Creek) in the 
Gulf Oil Corporation refund proceeding. The first applicant claimed the 
right to any refund owing his deceased son, who was a partner in the 
operation of the outlet during part of the refund period. The second 
applicant was the other partner in the outlet. In considering the first 
application, the DOE determined that the son's will, upon which the 
father based his claim, had specifically stated that the father was not 
a beneficiary. Accordingly, the DOE determined that the first applicant 
had not established his right to a Gulf refund. The DOE did not 
consider the second application because it was filed after the deadline 
for Gulf applications.

Veterans Administration, 8/7/96, RF272-47498

    The DOE issued a Decision and Order granting an Application for 
Refund filed by the Veterans Administration, a federal agency (now the 
Department of Veterans Affairs), in the Subpart V crude oil refund 
proceeding. A group of States and Territories (States) and Philip P. 
Kalodner, Counsel for Utilities, Transporters, and Manufacturers 
(Kalodner) objected to the application on the grounds that the DOE, by 
signing the Stripper Well Settlement Agreement, waived the rights of 
all federal agencies to receive a crude oil refund. The DOE found that 
while the state and federal governments are designated conduits for 
indirect restitution under the Settlement Agreement, neither waived its 
right to direct restitution with respect to its own purchases of 
refined petroleum products. The refund granted to the applicant in this 
Decision was $27,779.

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.

Bair Transport, Inc......................................  RC272-347                                    08/09/96
Crude Oil Supple Refund Distribution.....................  RB272-00079                                  08/09/96
Crude Oil Supplemental Refund Distribution...............  RB272-00083                                  08/09/96
Gulf Oil Corporation/Haroutioun Jerejian.................  RF300-21835                                  08/06/96
Gulf Oil Corporation/Jordan Oil Company et al............   RF300-18708                                 08/05/96
Koch Materials Company...................................   RG272-307                                   08/08/96
Kraft General Foods......................................  RF272-90209                                  08/07/96
Malone Brothers' Construction et al......................  RF272-87022                                  08/07/96
Master-Jackson Paving Company............................  RK272-931                                    08/08/96
Patrick Boyle et al......................................  RG272-00806                                  08/05/96
Total Transport, Inc.....................................  RA272-74                                     08/06/96
Weston Trucking et al....................................   RK272-01144                                 08/09/96
                                                                                                                

Dismissals

    The following submissions were dismissed:

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                     Name                               Case No.        
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Adobe Mining Co..............................  RG272-878                
Albuquerque Operations Office................   VSO-0095                
Arcadian Fertilizer Inc. L.P.................  RF272-92584              
Ashland Exploration, Inc.....................  RF272-98196              
Atlanta Gas Light Co.........................  RF272-98203              
B.P. Short & Son Paving Co., Inc.............   RG272-910               
Betty B. Plank...............................   VFA-0187                
Borg-Warner Security, Inc....................   RF272-98182             
Burlington Basket Co.........................   RF272-98201             
City of Newark...............................   RF272-98131             
Comfort Winders..............................   RF272-99052             
Cummings-Moore Graphite Co...................   RF272-98197             
Edisto Resources Corp........................   RF272-98204             
Energy West..................................  RF272-98167              
Farmers Cooperative Company..................   RG272-968               
Farmers Cooperative Exchange.................   RG272-897               
Farmers Elevator Co..........................   RG272-807               
Farmers Elevator Cooperative.................  RG272-900                
Farmers Elevator Cooperative.................  RG272-903                
Grand Canyon Helicopters.....................   RF272-97959             
Gulf States Manufactuters, Inc...............   RF272-89336             
Hess Brothers, Inc...........................   RG272-852               
Magee Co.....................................   RF272-98195             
Medical Center of Central Massachsetts.......  RG272-977                
Millcraft Industries, Inc....................   RF272-98171             
Motor Transport Company......................   RR272-241               
Omy Aviation, Inc............................   RF272-98188             

[[Page 48950]]

                                                                        
Omya, Inc....................................   RF272-98191             
Peabody Coal Company.........................   RG272-885               
Penn Fuel Gas, Inc. and Subsidiaries.........   RF272-98245             
Pluess-Staufer Inc...........................  RF272-98186              
Raffi and Swanson, Inc.......................   RG272-815               
Rockbridge Farmers Co-op, Inc................   RG272-805               
Sanborn Farmers Union Oil Cooperative........   RF272-97806             
Town of Clarkstown...........................   RG272-888               
Truman Farmers Elevator Co...................   RG272-889               
Valley Gas Co................................   RF272-98168             
Vermont Talc, Inc............................   RF272-98187             
Vulcan Forge and Machine Co..................   RF272-98249             
White Pigment Corp...........................  RF272-98190              
William Refrigerated Express.................   RF272-97873             
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[FR Doc. 96-23737 Filed 9-16-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P