Case No. RF272-57009

November 13, 1997

DECISION AND ORDER

OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Applications for Refund

Names of Petitioners: Belle Pass Towing Corp. et al.

Dates of Filings: May 20, 1988 et al.

Case Numbers: RF272-57009 et al.

This Decision and Order will consider the Applications for Refund filed by sixteen claimants that purchased refined petroleum products during the period August 19, 1973, through January 27, 1981 (the crude oil price control period). Each applicant has requested a refund from crude oil monies available for disbursement by the Office of Hearings and Appeals of the Department of Energy under 10 C.F.R. Part 205, Subpart V. We have established refund procedures for these funds, which have been made available through consent orders entered into by the DOE and numerous firms that sold crude oil during the price control period. E.g., Berry Holding Co., 16 DOE ¶ 85,405 (1987) (Berry); A. Tarricone, Inc., 15 DOE ¶ 85,495 (1987); Mountain Fuel Supply Co., 14 DOE ¶ 85,475 (1986).

In order to receive a refund for crude oil overcharges, an applicant generally must: (1) document its purchase volumes; and (2) show that it was injured as a result of the alleged overcharges. However, as we discussed in City of Columbus, Georgia, 16 DOE ¶ 85,550 (1987), applicants who were end-users of petroleum products and whose businesses were unrelated to the petroleum industry are presumed to have absorbed the crude oil overcharges, and generally need not submit proof of injury to receive a refund in the Subpart V proceeding. See also Berry.

In general, a claimant is eligible for a refund equal to the number of gallons it purchased multiplied by $0.0016 per gallon, the volumetric refund amount currently available. We derived the volumetric refund amount by dividing the total crude oil refund monies currently available by the total U.S. consumption of petroleum products during the period of crude oil price controls (2,020,997,335,000 gallons).

Each of the applicants considered in this Decision and Order is an end-user and bought petroleum products to operate its business,

with one exception.(1)Each applicant has derived its purchase volume claim by using actual records or a reasonable estimation technique. We have carefully reviewed the information submitted by the applicants, and have determined that the information provided by the applicants sufficiently supports their requests for refunds.(2)

Eight of the applications considered in this Decision were filed on behalf of Unique Processing Company, Inc (Unique). Unique was dissolved in 1989. In the case of a corporation not dissolved through bankruptcy, it has been the policy of the OHA to award the refund to the former stockholders according to their respective ownership interests in the corporation at the time of dissolution. See Gulf Oil Corporation/Pate’s Gulf, 22 DOE ¶ 85,219 (1992). Therefore, those Unique shareholders who filed refund claims are entitled to refunds proportionate to their percentages of ownership at the time of dissolution.(3)These ownership shares and percentage ownership are shown in the chart below. These applicants have demonstrated that Unique purchased a total amount of 2,454,133 gallons of petroleum products during the refund period. The firm’s total potential refund at the current volumetric amount is therefore $3,927 (2,454,133 gallons x $0.0016), 82.99% of which ($3,258) has been awarded to the eight shareholders who applied.

Name and Case No.

Number of shares owned at time of dissolution

Percentage of total outstanding stock

RF272-57055

James R. Reich

24,792

28.80

RG272-01078

Mark H. Amsterdam

5,000

5.81

RG272-01079

Carl L. Griggs, Sr.

5,500

6.39

RG272-01080

Holly Kanfer

4,000

4.65

RG272-01081

Richard Kanfer

4,000

4.65

RG272-01082

Arthur Kanfer

1,000

1.16

RG272-01083

Lou Meltzer

24,293

28.22

RG272-01084

John M. Staten, Jr.

2,850

3.31

Totals:

71,435 (out of 86,089 total outstanding shares)

82.99

Since the applicants who are granted refunds in this Decision are end-users of refined petroleum products, they are presumed injured by the crude oil overcharges and are entitled to receive their full allocable share of the crude oil monies. The refund amounts are calculated by multiplying the approved purchase volumes by the volumetric refund amount of $0.0016 per gallon. The total volume for which refunds are approved in this Decision is 21,457,157 gallons, and the sum of the refunds granted is $34,332.

One of the applicants, Mountain View, filed its Application through Energy Refunds, Inc., a private filing service. In accordance with Mountain View’s request, its refund check will be sent to Energy Refunds, Inc. Five of the applicants filed their applications through Petroleum Funds, Inc. However, in accordance with their requests, we will send the refund checks to these applicants directly. Some of the remaining applicants filed their applications through Federal Action. However, the refund checks for those applicants will be sent to the applicants directly for the reason described in Crude Oil Supplemental Refund Distribution, 26 DOE ¶ 85,039 (1997).

The final deadline for the crude oil refund proceeding was June 30, 1995. It is the current policy of the DOE to pay crude oil refund claimants at the current rate of $0.0016 per gallon. We will decide whether sufficient crude oil overcharge funds are available for additional refunds for these and other successful applicants when we are better able to determine how much additional money will be collected from firms that have either outstanding obligations to the DOE or enforcement cases currently in litigation.

It Is Therefore Ordered That:

(1) The Applications for Refund filed by the sixteen claimants listed in the Appendix attached to this Decision and Order for all available crude oil overcharge funds are hereby approved as set forth in Paragraph (2) below.

(2) The Director of Special Accounts and Payroll, Office of Departmental Accounting and Financial Systems Development, Office of the Controller, of the Department of Energy shall take appropriate action to disburse from the escrow account maintained at the Department of the Treasury denominated Crude Tracking- Claimants IV, Account No. 999DOE010Z, the amounts specified in the Appendix to this Decision and Order to the applicants specified in that Appendix.

(3) Mountain View Cooperative-Fairfield f/k/a Greenfield Farmers Oil shall notify its membership of the receipt of the refund and shall pass through to its cooperative member customers all crude oil refunds received in Subpart V refund proceedings conducted by the Office of Hearings and Appeals.

(4) To facilitate the payment of future refunds, each applicant shall notify the Office of Hearings and Appeals in the event that there is a change in its address, or if an address correction is necessary. Such notification shall be sent to:

Director of Management Information

Office of Hearings and Appeals

Department of Energy

1000 Independence Avenue, S.W.

Washington, D.C. 20585-0107

(5) The determinations made in this Decision and Order are based upon the presumed validity of the statements and documentary material submitted by the applicants. This Decision and Order may be revoked or modified at any time upon a determination that the basis underlying a refund application is incorrect.

(6) This is a final Order of the Department of Energy.

George B. Breznay

Director

Office of Hearings and Appeals

Date: November 13, 1997

Case Nos. RF272-57009 et al.

APPENDIX

Case No.

Payee

Purchase

Refund

and Applicant

and Address

Volume

[Gallons]

____________________________________

_____________________________

_

_________

___________

RF272-57009

Belle Pass Towing Corp.

9,537,191

$15,260

Belle Pass Towing Corp.

c/o David Gravois, Office Mgr.

308 South Bayou Drive

Golden Meadow, LA 70357-5212

RF272-57055

James R. Reich

*

706,744

$1,131

James R. Reich

1709 Briarcliff Circle

Dalton, GA 30720

RF272-95405

City of Lemoore

701,361

$1,122

City of Lemoore

c/o Cheryl Silva, Finance Director

119 Fox Street

Lemoore, CA 93245

RF272-95556

West End School Dist. Re-2

187,362

$300

West End School Dist. Re-2

c/o Leah Roberts, Business Mgr.

P.O. Box 190

Naurita, CO 81422-0190

RF272-95615

Haven Public Schools

473,675

$758

Haven Public Schools

c/o Lori Blakesley, Business Mgr.

P.O. Box 130

Haven, KS 67543

RF272-95631

Dennis Township School Dist.

622,921

$997

Dennis Township School Dist.

c/o Paula Smith, Business Administrator

P.O. Box 363, Academy Rd.

Dennisville, NJ 08214

RF272-95647

Dewey County, SC

454,553

$727

Dewey County, SD

c/o Adele Enright, County Auditor

Courthouse P.O. Box 277

Timber Lake, SD 57656

RF272-95691

Cushing ISD, TX

124,478

$199

Cushing ISD,TX

c/o A. Ronald Tidwell, Superintendent

P.O. Box 337

Cushing, TX 75760

RF272-95725

Mountain View Cooperative-Fairfield

7,319,222

$11,711

Mountain View Cooperative-Fairfield

f/k/a Greenfield Farmers Oil OR

f/k/a Greenfield Farmers Oil

Energy Refunds, Inc.

c/o Eric Small

31 Small Lane

Hardin, KY 42048

RG272-01078

Mark H. Amsterdam

*

142,535

$228

Mark H. Amsterdam

7627 Westwind

Houston, TX 77071

RG272-01079

Carl L. Griggs, Sr.

*

156,788

$251

Carl L. Griggs, Sr.

P.O. Box 1186

Dalton, GA 30722-1186

RG272-01080

Holly L. Kanfer

*

114,028

$182

Holly L. Kanfer

325 W. 52nd St., Apt. 1A

New York, NY 10019

RG272-01081

Richard Kanfer

*

114,028

$182

Richard Kanfer

4625 West Nevso Drive

Las Vegas, NV 89103

RG272-01082

Arthur Kanfer

*

28,507

$46

Arthur Kanfer

752 W. Wesley Road

Atlanta, GA 30327

RG272-01083

Lou Meltzer

*

692,519

$1,108

Lou Meltzer

9910 Harbor Lake Circle

Boynton Beach, FL 33427

RG272-01084

John M. Staten, Jr.

*

81,245

$130

John M. Staten, Jr.

2295 Crow Valley Road

Dalton, GA 30720

____________________________________

_____________________________

_

_________

___________

Sixteen Applicants

21,457,157

$34,332

* Purchases allocated for administrative

purposes in accordance with percentage

of stock ownership in Unique Processing Co., Inc.

(1)Mountain View Cooperative-Fairfield f/k/a Greenfield Farmers Oil (Mountain View), Case No. RF272-95725, is an agricultural cooperative that bought petroleum products for resale to its members, who were end-users. We consider a claim by an agricultural cooperative that resold petroleum products to its members as a claim on behalf of the members. Farmers Union Oil Co., 17 DOE ¶ 85,464 (1988). Therefore, we afford such a cooperative the presumption of end-user injury on the condition that it certify that it will pass through the refund to its members. Mountain View has provided this certification.

(2) We reduced the estimated gallonage of one applicant, Belle Pass Towing Corp., RF272-57009, in order that the estimate of its purchases in 1974 be more consistent with purchase volumes for which records exist.

(3)The original application on behalf of Unique, Case No. RF272- 57055, was submitted prior to Unique’s dissolution. Because this Office did not act on the timely and accurate application prior to dissolution, we are allowing the shareholders at the time of dissolution to receive refunds despite the fact that, with one exception, they did not file refund claims until after the June 30, 1995 crude oil proceeding deadline. See Dixie Hauling Co., Inc., 26 DOE ¶ 85,023 at n.3 (1997).