[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 104 (Friday, May 30, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 29339-29340]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-14164]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Office of Hearings and Appeals


Notice of Issuance of Decisions and Orders During the Week of 
March 31 Through April 4, 1997

    During the week of March 31 through April 4, 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: May 21, 1997.
George B. Breznay,
Director, Office of Hearings and Appeals.

Decision List No. 27

Appeals

Daniel J. Bruno, 4/1/97, VFA-0277

    The DOE's Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) issued a decision 
denying a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Appeal filed by Daniel J. 
Bruno. Bruno sought a copy of a written statement allegedly submitted 
pursuant to an EEO investigation. In its decision, OHA found that the 
DOE's finding that the statement had never been submitted met its 
obligations under the FOIA. Accordingly, the Appeal was denied.

Glen Milner, 4/4/97, LFA-0159

    Glen Milner filed an Appeal from a denial by the Albuquerque 
Operations Office of a request for information that he filed under the 
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Because the withheld information was 
produced under the joint authority of the DOE and various elements of 
the Department of Defense, the DOE provided the DOD with an opportunity 
to review the documents at issue. In considering the information that 
was withheld, the DOD determined that the majority of the information 
must be withheld under Exemptions 2 and 3 of the FOIA. However, title 
pages and pages containing purely administrative matters could be 
released. Accordingly, the Appeal was granted in part.

Glen Milner, 4/4/97, VFA-0278

    Glen Milner (Appellant) filed an Appeal of a determination issued 
to him by the Albuquerque Operations Office (AOO) of the Department of 
Energy (DOE) in response to a request under the Freedom of Information 
Act. That determination followed the remand from the Office of Hearings 
and Appeals (OHA) which determined that the Appellant should be given a 
fee waiver for documents generated after January 1992 concerning 
specifically fitted railcars for the transport of nuclear weapons. In 
its determination, AOO released only one responsive document to the 
Appellant. On appeal, the OHA found that AOO had interpreted OHA's fee 
waiver grant too narrowly and remanded the case for a further search. 
The OHA also found that AOO should search for documents generated up 
until the time of the new search because AOO's original search was 
substantially delayed. Accordingly, the DOE granted the Appeal and 
remanded the matter to AOO for further action.

Richard J. Levernier, 4/1/97, VFA-0274

    Richard J. Levernier (Levernier) filed an Appeal from a 
determination issued to him by the Office of the Inspector General 
(OIG) of the Department of Energy (DOE). In his Appeal, Levernier 
asserted that the OIG improperly withheld names and other identifying 
information contained in two documents requested pursuant to the FOIA. 
The DOE determined that OIG had correctly applied Exemption 7(C) to the 
information and Levernier's Appeal was denied.

Terry J. Fox, 4/4/97, VFA-0276

    Terry J. Fox filed an Appeal from a determination issued to him by 
the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) of the Department of Energy 
(DOE) in response to a Request for Information submitted under the 
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Mr. Fox's request sought records of 
outgoing telephone calls from a particular BPA telephone belonging to 
his brother who Mr. Fox suspects of spying on and harassing him. BPA 
stated that it had no documents listing outgoing calls from any 
telephone having the same prefix as Mr. Fox's brother's BPA telephone 
number. In considering the Appeal, the DOE determined that the search 
performed by BPA was adequate and complied with the requirements of the 
FOIA. In particular, BPA computerized telephone records only list 
general switchboard numbers as the outgoing telephone number. Thus, no 
match can be made with particular BPA telephones. In addition, BPA 
found no record of any telephone calls being placed from BPA to Mr. 
Fox's home telephone number. Accordingly, the Appeal was denied.

Personnel Security Hearing

Personnel Security Hearing, 4/4/97, VSO-0125

    An Office of Hearings and Appeals Hearing Officer issued an opinion 
regarding the eligibility of an individual employed by a contractor at 
a DOE facility to maintain an access authorization under the provisions 
of 10 C.F.R. Part 710. The individual's access authorization had been 
suspended because he had filed a false report with the local police, 
lied to law enforcement personnel, lied to the DOE in a Personnel 
Security Interview, and filed falsified evidence with the local traffic 
court. The Hearing Officer found that the individual failed to present 
any

[[Page 29340]]

evidence to mitigate the falsification charges against him, and that he 
had engaged in conduct that tends to show that he is not honest, 
reliable or trustworthy. Accordingly, the Hearing Officer recommended 
that the individual's access authorization not be restored.

Request for Exception

Laney Oil Company, Inc., 4/4/97 VEE-0028

    Laney Oil Company, Inc. of Monroe, North Carolina filed an 
Application for Exception requesting that it be relieved of the 
requirement to file Form EIA-782B, entitled ``Resellers/Retailers'' 
Monthly Petroleum Products Sales Report'' because the firm had replaced 
the employee with the responsibility for collecting the information 
contained in the Form. The DOE found that the filing requirement did 
not constitute a special hardship, inequity or unfair distribution of 
burdens and denied the firm's request that it be relieved of its 
obligation to file the Form. However, DOE also found that it would be 
difficult for the firm to file these Forms on time. As such, DOE 
granted the firm an extension of time to file the Forms required for 
April through December of 1996.

Refund Application

    Crude Oil Supplemental Refund Distribution, 4/2/97 RB272-00104

    The DOE granted supplemental refunds to 17 applicants. The 
applicants were represented by a filing service in the crude oil refund 
proceeding. Because the filing agent did not send refund checks granted 
in previous decisions to applicants in a timely manner, the DOE decided 
to send the checks directly to the applicants.

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.

Apex Oil Co/Clark Oil Co/et al/Charlie's Clark Super 100.  RF342-180                                     3/31/97
Apex Oil Co/Clark Oil Co/et al/Jack's Clarksuper 100.....  RF342-166                                      4/1/97
Atlantic Richfield Co./Joe's Arco et al..................  RF304-15202                                   3/31/97
Big Pine Trucking Co., Inc...............................  RG272-89                                       4/2/97
Cassell Truck Lines, Inc. et al..........................  RF272-85640                                    4/1/97
Colonial Trailways, Inc. et al...........................  RG272-100                                      4/1/97
Continental Grain Co.....................................  RR272-00225                                    4/1/97
Crude Oil Supple Ref Dist................................  RB272-00105                                    4/4/97
Crude Oil Supple Ref Dist................................  RB272-00100                                    4/1/97
Douglas Cnty Farmers Coop et al..........................  RF272-99117                                    4/2/97
Gulf Oil Corporation/United Refining Co..................  RF300-17886                                    4/1/97
Karnak Corporation.......................................  RG272-00864                                    4/4/97
Pharmhouse, Inc. et al...................................  RF272-97796                                    4/2/97
Village of Sturtevant et al..............................  RF272-83027                                    4/1/97
W.E. Bartholow & Son Construction........................  RJ272-39                                      3/31/97
                                                                                                                

Dismissals

    The following submissions were dismissed:

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                     Name                               Case No.        
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Coastal Air..................................  RF272-98713              
Colony Oaks Associates.......................  RF272-98787              
Farm Bureau Driveway.........................  RF272-98749              
Harran Transportation Co., Inc...............  RF272-95755              
Interlake Steel Corporation..................  RF272-88837              
Kenton County Schools........................  RF272-79646              
Moore Mccormack, Inc.........................  RF272-98745              
National Steel Corporation...................  RR272-287                
National Steel Corporation...................  VEG-0003                 
New Brunswick Township, NJ...................  RF272-88749              
Personnel Security...........................  VSO-0145                 
Richard W. Ghilotti..........................  RG272-814                
Sutherland Products, Inc.....................  RG272-00143              
W V Northern Raiload, Ltd....................  RK272-3951               
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[FR Doc. 97-14164 Filed 5-29-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P