Case No. RK272-04183

February 25, 1997

DECISION AND ORDER

OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Supplemental Order

Name of Applicant: Franklin County Cooperative

Date of Filing: February 7, 1997

Case Number : RK272-04183

In this Decision and Order, the Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) of the Department of Energy (DOE) will determine the eligibility of Franklin County Cooperative (Franklin County) for a supplemental refund from the crude oil monies currently available for disbursement in a proceeding conducted pursuant to the provisions of 10 C.F.R. Part 205, Subpart V.

Pursuant to the long-standing policy of the Department of Energy (DOE), thousands of purchasers of petroleum products have applied for, and been granted, refunds from crude oil overcharge funds under jurisdiction of the DOE's Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA). See Statement of Modified Restitutionary Policy To Be Implemented In Crude Oil Cases, 51 Fed. Reg. 27899 (August 4, 1986). The standards for considering Applications for Refund from these crude oil funds are set forth at 10 C.F.R. Part 205, Subpart V.

The OHA has approved more than 87,000 requests for refund from the pool of crude oil overcharge funds. In Subpart V crude oil refund cases, a claimant is generally eligible for a refund equal to the number of gallons of eligible refined petroleum products it purchased during the period from August 19, 1973 through January 27, 1981, multiplied by a per gallon amount. That per gallon refund amount is derived by dividing the total refund monies available by the total U.S. consumption of petroleum products during the crude oil price control period. Refunds had been calculated by multiplying the number of gallons of eligible refined petroleum products purchased by the applicant by $0.0008 (the volumetric factor). That volumetric factor had been in use since April 1989, when it replaced an earlier volumetric factor of $0.0002 per gallon. Any applicant who received a refund at the lower volumetric factor has also received a supplemental refund based on an additional $0.0006 per gallon. See Crude Oil Supplemental Refund Distribution, 18 DOE ¶ 85,878 (1989).

Additional crude oil overcharge funds have become available for disbursement and we can now issue additional refund checks to applicants. Sufficient funds are available to pay applicants at a new,

aggregate rate of $0.0016 per gallon.(1) Thus, the amount of the supplemental refund will be equal to the refund already received. Refunds are rounded to the nearest dollar.

In order to receive a supplemental refund check, applicants are being required to verify (directly or through their representatives) that their name and address in our records are correct, to correct any information that is not accurate, and to indicate whether there has been any change in circumstances affecting the payment of the refund. We intend to issue a series of Decision and Orders approving supplemental refunds as we receive completed verification forms from all applicants or certifications from their representatives.

Ms. Frances Zumbro, Secretary of Franklin County, completed and returned the verification form that was sent to the cooperative, which had been granted a crude oil refund on July 7, 1988 (Case No. RF272-07646). On the verification form, Ms. Zumbro indicated that a change of ownership had occurred since the original filing of the refund claim. She stated that the cooperative was dissolved in 1990. In a telephone conversation with this Office, she further stated that she had no records listing the members of the cooperative at the time of dissolution, nor did she have any way of knowing which other cooperatives the members might have joined. See Record of Telephone Conversation between Frances Zumbro and Dawn Goldstein, Staff Attorney, OHA (February 20, 1997). In light of these facts, we find that there is no appropriate entity to whom the refund can be disbursed. See Hanover Coop Oil Co., 21 DOE ¶ 85,144 (1991); compare Four Circle Cooperative, 25 DOE ¶ 85,116 (1996) (one-half of supplemental refund to successor cooperative with one-half of former members). Accordingly, Franklin County's claim for a supplemental refund will be denied.

It Is Therefore Ordered That:

(1) The Supplemental Refund filed by Franklin County Cooperative., Case No. RK272-04183, is hereby denied.

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

George B. Breznay

Director

Office of Hearings and Appeals

Date: February 25, 1997

(1)We are now paying first-time crude oil refund recipients at the volumetric rate of $0.0016 per gallon.