[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 225 (Thursday, November 21, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 70249-70250]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-29625]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employment and Training Administration

[TA-W-37,047]


Marathon Ashland Pipe Line, LLC, Bridgeport, IL; Notice of 
Negative Determination of Reconsideration on Remand

    The United States Court of International Trade (USCIT) remanded for 
further investigation and consideration of the Trade Adjustment 
Assistance (TAA) petition for Former Employees of Marathon Ashland Pipe 
Line LLC v. Elaine Chao, U.S. Secretary of Labor, No. 00-04-00171.

[[Page 70250]]

    The Department's initial denial for the workers transporting crude 
oil and petroleum products at Marathon Ashland Pipe Line, LLC, 
Bridgeport, Illinois, issued on December 2, 1999, and published in the 
Federal Register on December 28, 1999 (64 FR 72691), was based on the 
finding that the group eligibility requirements of section 222 of the 
Trade Act of 1974, as amended, were not met.
    The petitioners request for reconsideration resulted in a negative 
determination regarding the application which was issued on February 
11, 2000, and was published in the Federal Register on February 22, 
2000 (64 FR 8743). The Department's findings affirmed that the workers 
were providing a service and were not producing an article.
    On remand, in order to determine if the worker group supported 
crude oil production of the parent company, the Department contacted 
officials of Marathon Ashland Pipe Line LLC, to obtain additional 
information regarding the transportation of articles produced by the 
parent company, Marathon Oil Company, Inc. The Department found that in 
1997, 1998 and in January through March of 1999, Marathon Ashland Pipe 
Line Company did not transport via pipeline any articles produced by 
the parent company, Marathon Oil Company, Inc.
    The Department further found that in 1997, the parent company 
purchased crude oil at the lease (Illinois Basin) that was transported 
by Marathon Pipe Line Company. In 1998, Marathon Ashland Petroleum LLC 
was formed and it purchased from the lease crude oil which it 
transported via the pipe line. In 1999, Marathon Ashland Petroleum LLC 
did not purchase from the lease.
    On July 16, 2002, the court remanded to the Department of Labor, 
USCIT Case No. 00-04-00171, that they investigate the duties and nature 
of the work performed by the gaugers of Marathon Ashland Pipe Line, 
Bridgeport, Illinois and provide a reasoned analysis as to whether such 
duties qualify as ``producing'' an article within the provisions of 19 
U.S.C., section 2272(a).
    After the investigation, the Department of Labor found that 
Marathon Ashland Pipe Line LLC is a common carrier pipeline company. 
The company provides a service by transporting crude oil and petroleum 
products. The subject workers were primarily responsible for activities 
related to the transportation of crude oil produced in Southern 
Illinois/Indiana via Marathon Ashland Pipe Line LLC pipelines. The 
gaugers, a part of the group for Marathon Ashland Pipe Line LLC, were 
not engaged in activities related to the production of crude oil. They 
were responsible for determining the quality and quantity of crude oil 
bought by the purchasing company from third party leases. The gaugers 
were responsible for ensuring quality control by collecting 
representative samples from crude oil tanks and certifying that the 
crude oil was acceptable for purchase. Once the crude oil quality was 
certified, the gauger would verify the quantity of the product from the 
tank and allow delivery into the Marathon Ashland Pipe Line facility 
either by truck to the pipeline or directly into the pipeline. After 
the crude oil was placed in the pipeline, it was then delivered to the 
customer's specified destination or Marathon Ashland Petroleum's 
refinery in Robinson, Illinois. Thus, based on the functions performed 
by the gaugers they did not ``produce'' an article.
    The court also ordered that if the workers do not ``produce'' an 
article, the Department of Labor shall determine and explain whether a 
``causal nexus'' exists between the gaugers' responsibilities and the 
production of an ``article''.
    Since the gaugers, who are employed by the pipeline company were 
merely responsible for certifying the quality and quantity of crude oil 
being shipped to customers, the gaugers were not engaged in activities 
related to the exploration or production of crude oil. The gaugers 
worked from crude oil already in tanks. Their functions were after the 
stage of the production of crude oil. The gaugers' functions were 
related to ensuring that crude oil purchasers received the quality and 
quantity of crude oil they were purchasing. Once the gaugers performed 
these functions, the crude oil was shipped via truck to the pipeline or 
directly to the pipeline to the customer or Marathon Ashland 
Petroleum's refinery located in Robinson, Illinois. The Robinson, 
Illinois refinery was not under an existing Trade Adjustment Assistance 
certification during the relevant period.
    The court further ordered that the Department of Labor investigate 
the reasons behind the sale of Marathon Oil's assets and the 
plaintiffs' claim that a decision by Marathon Oil to import crude oil 
caused their separation from Marathon Ashland.
    Of note, the parent of Marathon Ashland Pipe line, LLC is Marathon 
Ashland Petroleum LLC which is a joint venture owned by Marathon Oil 
Corporation (formerly Marathon Oil Company) and Ashland, Inc. Marathon 
Oil owns 62 percent of Marathon Ashland Petroleum, LLC and Ashland, 
Inc. owns 38 percent of Marathon Ashland Petroleum, LLC.
    The Department found that the sale of assets in question were not 
assets sold by Marathon Oil, but rather a sale of Marathon Ashland 
Petroleum LLC. In 1999 Marathon's Ashland Petroleum's LLC sold Scurlock 
Permian LLC, a crude oil gathering and transportation business in an 
area from the Rocky Mountains to the Gulf of Mexico, part of its 
Illinois Basin assets, to Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. These 
assets were part of an overall sale of assets by Marathon Ashland 
Petroleum LLC because they were not of strategic value to the company. 
Marathon Ashland Pipeline LLC still transports Illinois Basin crude oil 
(gauged and trucked by various companies from the wellhead to Marathon 
Ashland Pipeline LLC facilities) to locations determined by the crude 
oil purchases. The company indicated that the employees at Marathon 
Ashland Pipe Line LLC, Bridgeport, Illinois were terminated as a result 
of an asset sale in May 1999, not the decision by Marathon to import 
crude oil. In any event, since the workers were engaged in a service, 
they can not be certified under the Trade Act of 1974, as amended, 
since they were not in direct support of a TAA certified facility 
during the relevant period.

Conclusion

    After reconsideration on remand, I affirm the original notice of 
negative determination of eligibility to apply for adjustment 
assistance for workers and former workers of Marathon Ashland Pipe 
Line, LLC, Bridgeport, Illinois.

    Signed in Washington, DC, this 17th day of October, 2002.
Edward A. Tomchick
Director, Division of Trade Adjustment Assistance.
[FR Doc. 02-29625 Filed 11-20-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-30-P