[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 78 (Friday, April 23, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19998-19999]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-10192]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Office of Hearings and Appeals


Announcement of Final Deadline to Request Supplemental Crude Oil 
Overcharge Refunds

AGENCY: Office of Hearings and Appeals, Department of Energy.

ACTION: Notice of final deadline for crude oil overcharge refund 
recipients to request the $.0008 per gallon supplemental refund first 
announced in 1995 in the crude oil overcharge refund proceeding (RF272 
Case Nos.).

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SUMMARY: The Office of Hearings and Appeals of the Department of Energy 
has set a January 31, 2000 deadline for requesting the $.0008 per 
gallon supplemental refund first announced in 1995 in the crude oil 
overcharge refund proceeding. The deadline applies to all refund 
recipients eligible for a supplemental refund of $50 or more. Those 
refund recipients that do not request a supplemental refund by the 
deadline will forfeit the supplemental refund and any further payment 
from crude oil overcharge funds. Small refund recipients, i.e., those 
eligible for a supplemental refund less than $50, continue to have the 
option of requesting a supplemental refund until the conclusion of the 
crude oil overcharge refund proceeding.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Thomas L. Wieker, Deputy Director, or 
Janet N. Freimuth, Deputy Assistant Director, Office of Hearings and 
Appeals, Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW, 
Washington, DC 20585-0107, telephone number 202-426-1527, FAX 202-426-
1415.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Department of Energy's crude oil 
overcharge refund proceeding began over twelve years ago. In August 
1986, the DOE announced its policy concerning the administration of a 
proceeding to refund crude oil overcharge funds to injured purchasers 
of refined petroleum products. See 51 FR 27,899 (August 4, 1986) 
(Modified Statement of Restitutionary Policy in Crude Oil Cases 
(MSRP)). That same month, the first crude oil refund application was 
filed. Pursuant to the MSRP, the OHA announced, in April 1987, that it 
would use the refund procedures at 10 CFR part 205, Subpart V, to 
process crude oil refund applications. 52 FR 11,737 (1987). The OHA 
accepted crude oil refund applications until the June 1995 deadline.
    As the OHA has conducted the crude oil overcharge refund 
proceeding, the DOE has continued to collect additional overcharge 
funds. Under the MSRP, up to 20 percent of crude oil overcharge funds 
are reserved for direct refunds to claimants through the OHA pursuant 
to Subpart V. The remaining 80 percent is divided equally between the 
federal government (40 percent) and the states (40 percent) for 
indirect restitution. Because of the potential availability of 
additional funds, the OHA decisions approving refund applications 
advise the refund recipient to inform the OHA of any change of address.
    The amount of a refund is based on the refund recipient's volume of 
refined petroleum product purchases, multiplied by a per gallon refund 
amount, referred to as the ``volumetric refund amount'' or simply the 
``volumetric.'' The larger a firm's or individual's purchases, the 
greater the injury from crude oil overcharges and therefore the greater 
the refund. As the DOE has collected additional crude oil overcharge 
funds, the OHA has raised the volumetric. The OHA originally paid crude 
oil overcharge refund recipients at a rate of $.0002 per gallon. The 
OHA has raised the volumetric twice. First, in 1989, the OHA raised the 
volumetric to $.0008 per gallon; the OHA sent a supplemental payment of 
$.0006 per gallon to those refund recipients that had been paid at the 
$.0002 rate. See Crude Oil Supplemental Refund Distribution, 18 DOE 
para. 85,878 (1989). Second, in 1995, the OHA raised the volumetric to 
$.0016 per gallon; the OHA notified refund recipients that had been 
paid at the $.0008 per gallon volumetric of the availability of a 
$.0008 supplemental payment. See 60 FR. 15562 (March 24, 1995).
    The OHA's 1995 notice advised refund recipients that if they wished 
to receive a supplemental payment at that time, they should verify to 
the OHA that certain information was still correct, such as their 
address. The 1995 notice stated that refund recipients could wait until 
the end of the proceeding to receive their supplemental payment, as 
well as any final payment that might be made.
    The OHA mailed the 1995 notice to over 56,000 refund recipients 
that had filed directly with the OHA for their original refund, i.e., 
refund recipients that did not file through a representative. The 
mailing went to each such recipient whose supplemental refund would be 
$50 or more, i.e., refund recipients with approved purchases of 62,500 
gallons or more. Although the OHA did not mail to small refund 
recipients, i.e., those entitled to less than $50, the OHA stated that 
those refund recipients could request a supplemental refund. In 
addition to the mailing to the over 56,000 recipients that did not file 
through a representative, the OHA mailed a notice to the 
representatives of an additional 12,000 refund recipients.
    Since 1995, the OHA has granted supplemental refunds totaling $268 
million to 56,000 recipients. At the same time, the OHA has almost 
completed its consideration of the original crude oil overcharge refund 
applications. The OHA has granted a total of $597 million to 91,500 
recipients. Of the total 100,000 applications filed, only 1,000 remain 
pending.
    The OHA has now determined that a January 31, 2000 deadline for 
requesting the $.0008 per gallon supplemental refund announced in 1995 
should be set for refund recipients whose supplemental refund would be 
$50 or more, i.e., refund recipients with approved purchases of 62,500 
gallons or more. Both administrative efficiency and the goal of 
achieving finality in the crude oil overcharge refund proceeding 
warrant establishing the deadline. Over the last four years, the OHA 
has granted supplemental refunds to 56,000 applicants, representing 335 
million

[[Page 19999]]

gallons of approved purchases. A deadline for requesting a supplemental 
refund is a necessary, interim step to the completion of the crude oil 
overcharge refund proceeding, which has been pending over 12 years. In 
order to make any final payment in the proceeding, we need to determine 
the number of eligible recipients and the total amount available after 
current supplemental payments are made. When we issued original refund 
decisions, we advised refund recipients to keep us informed of address 
changes, but some refund recipients failed to do so. We are concerned 
that the addresses and other information for the refund recipients that 
did not request a supplemental payment may not be current. For example, 
the recipient may have a new address or the recipient may no longer 
exist--an individual applicant may have died or a business entity may 
have ceased operations. Setting a deadline for all supplemental 
payments will allow us to identify those recipients that are either 
unreachable or that are not interested in receiving a supplemental 
refund. Those recipients will forfeit any further refund, which will 
then allow us to calculate a final payment for all remaining 
recipients, provided sufficient crude oil overcharge funds are left 
over.
    Based on the foregoing, we intend to mail notice of a January 31, 
2000 deadline to the 10,000 refund recipients with approved purchases 
of 62,500 gallons or more that have not yet requested a supplemental 
refund. As stated above, a refund recipient with approved purchases of 
62,500 gallons or more that does not request a supplemental refund by 
January 31, 2000 will not be eligible for any further payment from 
crude oil overcharge funds. The deadline does not apply to small refund 
recipients, i.e., those with approved purchases of less than 62,500 
gallons. We have concluded that mailing notice to such refund 
recipients is not appropriate, given the small size of the refund (less 
than $50) and the age of the addresses in our data base. Small refund 
recipients continue to have the option of requesting a supplemental 
refund until the conclusion of the crude oil overcharge refund 
proceeding.

    Dated: April 15, 1999.
George B. Breznay,
Director, Office of Hearings and Appeals, Department of Energy, 
Washington, DC.
[FR Doc. 99-10192 Filed 4-22-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P