[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 50 (Friday, March 14, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Page 12165]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-6467]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Notice of Issuance of Decisions and Orders During the Week of 
February 17 Through February 21, 1997

Office of Hearings and Appeals
    During the week of February 17 through February 21, 1997, 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: March 5, 1997.
George B. Breznay,
Director, Office of Hearings and Appeals.

DECISION LIST NO. 21

Appeals

Acadian Gas Pipeline System, 2/18/97, VFA-0260

    Acadian Gas Pipeline System (Acadian) filed an Appeal from a 
determination issued to it on November 26, 1996, by the Department of 
Energy's Strategic Petroleum Reserve Project Management Office (SPRP). 
That determination was issued in response to a request for information 
that Acadian submitted under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The 
request sought all records regarding the DOE's sale of certain 
Strategic Petroleum Reserve property. SPRP conducted a search of its 
records and provided Acadian with a complete file of responsive 
documents. However, SPRP withheld certain information pursuant to 
Exemption 4 of the FOIA. The Appeal challenged the adequacy of the 
search conducted by SPRP. In considering the Appeal, the DOE found that 
Acadian's request had not been subjected to a search sufficiently 
thorough and conscientious to meet the established standards of 
reasonableness. Accordingly, the Appeal was granted and SPRP was 
directed to perform a new search and issue a new determination 
identifying all responsive documents and justifying any withholdings.

STAND of Amarillo, Inc., 2/20/97, VFA-0261

    The Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) denied an Appeal that was 
filed by STAND of Amarillo, Inc. (STAND) pursuant to the Freedom of 
Information ACT (FOIA). In the Decision, OHA found that the search for 
responsive documents performed by the Albuquerque Operations Office was 
adequate, that 91 documents requested by STAND belonged to a DOE 
contractor and were not agency records subject to the FOIA, and that 
these documents were not otherwise subject to release under the DOE 
regulations.

William H. Payne, 2/20/97, VFA-0262

    William H. Payne filed an Appeal from a FOIA determination issued 
by the Albuquerque Operations Office (AOO). The DOE found that the 
Albuquerque Operations Office (1) properly withheld portions of legal 
invoices based upon the attorney work-product privilege recognize under 
FOIA Exemption 5, but failed to segregate and release non-privileged 
portions of the documents; (2) correctly asserted that records in the 
possession of a government contractor were not releasable under the 
FOIA because they were not agency records or under the control of DOE; 
(3) correctly refused to confirm or deny the existence of records that 
would indicate whether a former DOE official had been accused of sexual 
harassment or was the subject of a ``security clearance action.'' 
Accordingly, the matter was remanded to the AOO, which was directed to 
issue a revised determination concerning the legal invoices withheld in 
their entirety and to release any segregable, non-exempt information.

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 Ref Dist................................  RB272-00094                                   2/18/97
O'Toole Mechanical Services..............................  RC272-362                                     1/18/97
Robert L. Helms Construction.............................  RJ272-00037                                   2/20/97
                                                                                                                

Dismissals

    The following submissions were dismissed.

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                     Name                               Case No.        
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Patrick G. Eddington.........................  VFA-0270                 
Supervalu, Inc...............................  RK272-3906               
Supervalu, Inc...............................  RR272-275                
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[FR Doc. 97-6467 Filed 3-13-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-M