[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 36 (Thursday, February 23, 1995)] [Notices] [Pages 10077-10079] From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] [FR Doc No: 95-4427] ----------------------------------------------------------------------- DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Notice of Issuance of Decisions and Orders During the Week of December 19 through December 23, 1994 During the week of December 19 through December 23, 1994 the decisions and orders summarized below were issued with respect to appeals and applications for exception or other relief 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. Appeal E.O. Smelser, 12/21/94, VFA-0011 E.O. Smelser filed a Motion for Reconsideration of the denial by the Office of Hearings and Appeals of his previous Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Appeal. In his original FOIA request, Mr. Smelser had requested copies of computer tapes for databases created under a grant program which the DOE had funded. In considering the Motion, the OHA found that Mr. Smelser did not introduce any new evidence or changed circumstances that would warrant granting the motion for reconsideration. Accordingly, the Motion was denied. Requests for Exception Bender Oil Company, 12/19/94, LEE-0150 Bender Oil Company (Bender) filed an Application for Exception from the provisions of the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reporting requirements in which the firm sought relief from filing Form EIA-782B, entitled ``Resellers'/Retailers' Monthly Petroleum Product Sales Report.'' The DOE determined that Bender did not meet the standards for exception relief because it was not experiencing a serious hardship or gross inequity as a result of the reporting requirements. Accordingly, exception relief was denied. Berreth Oil, Inc., 12/20/94, LEE-0093 Berreth Oil, Inc. (Berreth) filed an Application for Exception from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) requirement that it file Form EIA-782B, the ``Resellers'/Retailers' Monthly Petroleum Product Sales Report,'' and Form EIA-821, the ``Annual Fuel Oil and Kerosene Sales Report.'' In considering this request, the DOE found that the firm was not suffering a gross inequity or serious hardship. On July 25, 1994, the DOE issued a Proposed Decision and Order determining that the exception request should be denied. No Notice of Objections to the Proposed Decision and Order was filed at the Office of Hearings and Appeals of the DOE within the prescribed time period. Therefore, the DOE issued the Proposed Decision and Order in final form, denying Berreth's Application for Exception. Personnel Security Hearing Albuquerque Operations Office, 12/22/94, VSO-0001 The Office of Hearings and Appeals issued the first Hearing Officer Opinion addressing the continued eligibility of an individual for access authorization under the newly amended provisions of 10 C.F.R. Part 710, ``Criteria and Procedures for Determining Eligibility for Access to Classified Matter or Special Nuclear Material.'' After carefully considering the record in view of the standards set forth in 10 C.F.R. Part 710, the Hearing Officer found that the individual had engaged in criminal behavior which tended to show that she was not honest, reliable, or trustworthy, and that she had omitted significant information from a Questionnaire for Sensitive Positions. The Hearing Officer also found that there were no mitigating [[Page 10078]] factors present in the case which can overcome the security concerns raised by the Department of Energy. Accordingly, the Hearing Officer found that the individual's access authorization, which had been suspended, should not be restored. Refund Applications Hunt-Wesson, Inc., Hunt-Wesson, Inc., Waterloo Industries, Aristokraft, Inc., Playtex Products, 12/23/94, RF272-73865, RD272-73865, RF272- 97916, RF272-97941, RF272-98638 The DOE issued a Decision and Order concerning Application for Refund submitted in the Subpart V crude oil refund proceeding by four former affiliates of Beatrice Co., Inc. Hunt-Wesson, Inc., Waterloo Industries, Aristokraft, Inc., and Playtex Products. The four applicants were found to have been affiliated with Arrowhead Drinking Water Company (Arrowhead) on August 7, 1986. Arrowhead had filed in the Surface Transporters Stripper Well proceeding. In doing so, Arrowhead had executed a waiver and release waiving its rights and the rights of its affiliates on August 7, 1986, to receive crude oil overcharge refunds. Accordingly, the DOE denied these four Applications for Refund. Because the DOE denied these Applications, the DOE also dismissed as moot a Motion for Discovery filed by a consortium of States and two Territories to Hunt-Wesson, Inc.'s Application for Refund. Texaco Inc./Carlton Hills Texaco, Harry's Texaco, 12/23/94, RF321- 20424, RF321-21044 Dale Fuller filed an Application for Refund in the Texaco, Inc. special refund proceeding on behalf of a retail outlet located on Carlton Hills Boulevard in Santee, California. Mr. Fuller's claimed dates of ownership conflicted with the dates claimed by Harry Orsulak, in Case No. RF321-18438, redesignated Case No. RF321-21044, and another applicant Mitchel Carter, in Case No. RF321-9802, both of whom had previously received refunds for purchases made by that outlet. The OHA determined that Mr. Orsulak was not entitled to the refund which he received for purchases made by the Carlton Hills outlet beginning in March 1973. In addition, the OHA determined that Mr. Fuller was eligible for a refund for the purchases made from March 1973 through November 1976, when Mr. Carter assured operation of the outlet. The OHA issued a Supplemental Decision and Order, granting Mr. Fuller's Application for Refund for the period March 1973 through November 1976, and instructing Mr. Orsulak to repay his refund. Texaco Inc./Guttman Oil Company, 12/20/94, RF321-17026 Guttman Oil Company (Guttman) filed an Application for Refund in the Texaco Inc. special refund proceeding. Rather than accept $50,000, the maximum refund under the medium-range presumption of injury, Guttman attempted to show that it was injured in its purchases of Texaco products. With respect to motor gasoline, Guttman sought a refund of 43 percent of the volumetric amount based upon a claim that it absorbed that percentage of the overcharges. Guttman sought an above-volumetric refund with respect to its diesel fuel purchases based upon a disproportionate overcharge. The DOE rejected Guttman's contention that lower than historical profit margins in its resale of motor gasoline implied that it was injured. The DOE noted that Guttman's profit margin analysis showed little more than its bank calculations and that depressed profit margins could have resulted from causes unrelated to the price it paid Texaco for product. The DOE agreed with Guttman that it had sustained a disproportionate overcharge based upon the findings of a Remedial Order that had been issued to Texaco concerning diesel fuel transactions. The DOE, however, found that Guttman's calculation of banked costs had to be adjusted to take into account the findings in another Remedial Order that had been issued to it. A revised bank calculation showed that in September 1975, Guttman had a bank of unrecovered product costs of $1,949, but that subsequent to that month the firm had a sufficient bank to justify the overcharge claims. This indicated that the firm had passed through to its customers all but $1,949 of the diesel fuel overcharges that occurred through September 1975. The DOE found that Guttman had absorbed $67,095 in diesel fuel overcharges between September 1975 and June 1976, and that Guttman was entitled to pre- settlement interest (for the period between the date of the overcharge and the date Texaco paid the settlement to DOE) on this amount. Since the Texaco consent order settled the alleged violations at a fraction of their value, the DOE reduced the resulting overcharge amount to 57.5 percent (the ratio of the consent order amount to the total overcharges that had been alleged by DOE). Guttman was accordingly granted a refund of $160,645, plus interest that has accrued on this amount since the Texaco funds were placed in an escrow account. 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. A-1 Truck & Trailer Rentals, Inc.......................................... RC272-267 12/20/94 Al Tech Specialty Steel Corp. et al....................................... RF272-93541 12/20/94 Atlantic Richfield Company/John Pellegrino Arco et al..................... RF304-14707 12/19/94 Burnup & Sims, Inc. et al................................................. RF272-92013 12/19/94 City of Athens, Texas et al............................................... RF272-85535 12/21/94 Gloucester County, NJ et al............................................... RF272-96502 12/21/94 Gulf Oil Corporation/Chicot Implement Co. et al........................... RF300-18845 12/19/94 Gulf Oil Corporation/Sherman Foundry, Inc. et al.......................... RF300-21525 12/20/94 Gulf Oil Corporation/U.S. Radium Corporation et al........................ RF300-21605 12/21/94 Gulf Power Company........................................................ RF272-93556 12/23/94 Duke Power Company........................................................ RF272-93569 .............. Halltown Paperboard Company............................................... RF272-67486 12/21/94 Richmond County et al..................................................... RF272-95512 12/20/94 Shawano-Greshan Sch. Dist. et al.......................................... RF272-80955 12/23/94 Shell Oil Company/Silver Port Shell....................................... RF315-3393 12/20/94 Stratton Equity Coop Co. et al............................................ RF272-92372 12/23/94 Texaco Inc./Art & Jim's Texaco Service et al.............................. RF321-20808 12/20/94 Texaco Inc./Crowley Texaco et al.......................................... RF321-20204 12/23/94 Texaco Inc./Don Fortunati's Texaco et al.................................. RF321-20408 12/20/94 Texaco Inc./Don's Service Station et al................................... RF321-12545 12/23/94 [[Page 10079]] Texaco Inc./Landry & Martin Oil Co., Inc.................................. RF321-20444 12/20/94 Texaco Inc./Maverick Oil Co............................................... RF321-19887 12/20/94 Maverick Oil Co........................................................... RF321-19888 .............. Maverick Oil Co........................................................... RF321-19889 .............. Maverick Oil Co........................................................... RF321-19890 .............. Maverick Oil Co........................................................... RF321-19891 .............. Maverick Oil Co........................................................... RF321-19892 .............. Texaco Inc./Walker's Service Station et al................................ RF321-12775 12/23/94 Dismissals The following submissions were dismissed: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Name Case No. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 72nd Street Association........................... RF272-77810 Ambassador Towne House Associates................. RF272-77814 C.W. Faust & Sons................................. RF272-94798 Central School District #1........................ RF272-96535 Gracie Towne House................................ RF272-77856 Morton Pickman.................................... RF272-77826 Orleans County Hwy. Dept.......................... RF272-96534 Pepperidge Farm, Inc.............................. RF272-93551 Rocky Flats Field Office.......................... VSO-0006 Salt Lake County, UT.............................. RF272-96642 Savannah Electric and Power Co.................... RF321-20919 Sunnyside Shell................................... RF321-8231 Tanner's Shell.................................... RF315-9719 Ten East Housing Company.......................... RF272-77825 The Pillsbury Company............................. RF321-20776 Thelma Realty..................................... RF272-77848 University Associates............................. RF272-77812 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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, 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. Dated: February 15, 1995. Thomas O. Mann, Acting Director, Office of Hearings and Appeals. [FR Doc. 95-4427 Filed 2-22-95; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6450-01-P