Case No. RG272-00503
July 8, 1997
DECISION AND ORDER
OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Applications for Refund
Names of Petitioners: Arch Mineral Corp. et al.
Date of Filing: June 29, 1995 et al.
Case Numbers: RG272-00503 et al.
This Decision and Order will consider the Applications for Refund filed by eight claimants based upon their purchases of refined petroleum products during the period August 19, 1973 through January 27, 1981 (the crude oil price control period). The names of these applicants are set forth in the Appendix attached to this Decision and Order. Each applicant has requested a refund from crude oil monies made available for disbursement by the Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) of the Department of Energy (DOE) under 10 C.F.R. Part 205, Subpart V. Until June 30, 1995, purchasers of refined products could apply to the OHA for a refund from crude oil overcharge funds collected by the DOE. See Modified Statement of Restitutionary Policy in Crude Oil Cases, 51 Fed. Reg. 27899 (August 4, 1986); Notice of New Filing Deadline in Special Refund Proceeding Involving Crude Oil Overcharge Refunds, 60 Fed. Reg. 19914 (April 21, 1995). 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).
The refund procedures set forth in these cases specify that in order to receive a refund, an applicant generally must: 1) document its purchase volumes; and 2) show that it was injured as a result of the alleged crude oil 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, 16 DOE at 88,799.
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).
We have carefully reviewed the information submitted by the eight applicants, and have determined that the information provided by the applicants sufficiently supports their requests for refunds.(1) Each of the applicants has demonstrated the volume of its claim by consulting actual records or by using a reasonable estimation technique. The gallonage amounts listed in the Appendix to this Decision and Order reflect the approved purchase volume for each applicant.
We have found that all eight applicants were end-users of refined petroleum products. Accordingly, they are presumed injured by the crude oil overcharges and are entitled to receive their full allocable shares 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 purchase volumes and refunds approved for each applicant are set forth in the Appendix. The total volume for which refunds are approved in this Decision is 367,785,622 gallons, and the sum of the refunds granted is $588,456.
Five of the applicants listed in the Appendix filed their Applications through a private filing service, Wilson, Keller & Associates. In accordance with the applicants request, the refund checks will be made payable to the applicants or Wilson, Keller & Associates, and be sent to Wilson, Keller & Associates, P.O. Box 221145, Memphis, TN 38122.(2)
It is the current policy of the DOE to pay eligible crude oil refund claimants at the 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 eight 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 a total of $588,456 from the DOE deposit fund escrow account denominated Crude Tracking-Claimants IV, Account Number 999DOE010Z, maintained at the Department of Treasury, to the eight applicants listed in the Appendix.
(3) Five of the applicants in listed in the Appendix applied through Wilson, Keller & Associates, a private filing service. At their request, the refund checks should be made payable to [the applicant] or Wilson, Keller & Associates, and be sent to Wilson, Keller & Associates, P.O. Box 221145, Memphis, TN 38122. The refund checks for the remaining applicants should be sent to the addresses listed in the Appendix.
(4) To facilitate the payment of future refunds, the applicants shall notify the Office of Hearings and Appeals in the event that there is a change of 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 materials submitted by the applicants. Any of these determinations may be revoked or modified at any time upon finding that the basis underlying any Application for Refund is incorrect.
(6) This is a final Order of the Department of Energy.
George B. Breznay
Director
Office of Hearings and Appeals
Date: July 8, 1997
(1)Interested parties were given an opportunity to submit comments regarding individual crude oil refund applications. No such comments were filed with respect to any application involved in this determination. However, comments were filed by a consoritum of state governments in opposition to an earlier refund application of Arch Mineral Corp. for different purchases than those involved in the application considered in this Decision. Those comments were rejected and the firms earlier refund claim was approved. Arch Mineral Corp. Case No. RF272-09491 (June 28, 1991).
(2)Two of the five applicants, Eight Way Express, Inc. (Case No. RG272-557) (Eight Way) and Food Transport, Inc. (Case No. RG272-562) (Food Transport), are dissolved corporations. In the case of a voluntarily dissolved corporation, the Office of Hearings and Appeals has generally approved refunds to the stockholders of the corporation at the time of dissolution according to their respective ownership percentages. See Gulf Oil/Pates Gulf, 22 DOE ¶ 85,219 (1992). There were six shareholders at the time of Eight Ways dissolution, two of whom are now deceased. Each shareholder owned one-sixth of the shares. Therefore, one- sixth of the refund will go to each of the four surviving shareholders and to each set of beneficiaries of each of the two deceased shareholders. There were three shareholders at the time of Food Transports dissolution. Each owned one-third of the shares and will therefore receive one-third of the refund.
In accordance with these applicants instructions, we will disburse the refund checks to Wilson, Keller & Associates. Upon receipt of the refund checks, Wilson, Keller will divide the refund equally among the shareholders of Eight Way and Food Transport in the manner indicated above. Wilson, Keller shall then notify the Office of Hearings and Appeals that they have divided the refund in said manner.
Appendix
CASE NO. APPLICANT CONTACT STREET ADDRESS CITY/STATE VOLUME REFUND RG272-00503 ARCH MINERAL CORP. C/O STEVE DUNAWAY CITYPLACE ONE ST. LOUIS, MO 63141 209,753,887 $335,606 RG272-00514 ORYX ENERGY CO. C/O SALOMON TRISTAN P.O. BOX 2880 DALLAS, TX 752212880 19,297,014 $30,875 RG272-00557 EIGHT WAY EXPRESS, INC. C/O HERBERT K. MADRON OR WILSON, KELLER & ASSOCIATES P.O. BOX 221145 MEMPHIS, TN 38122 5,077,610 $8,124 RG272-00562 FOOD TRANSPORT, INC. C/O BRENDA GABLE OR WILSON, KELLER & ASSOCIATES P.O. BOX 221145 MEMPHIS, TN 38122 3,088,644 $4,942 RG272-00565 BALDWIN CONTRACTING CO., INC. C/O VICKIE FERNANDEZ OR WILSON, KELLER & ASSOCIATES P.O. BOX 221145 MEMPHIS, TN 38122 38,371,426 $61,394 RG272-00567 DUNN BROS., INC. C/O JEWELL DUNN OR WILSON, KELLER & ASSOCIATES P.O. BOX 221145 MEMPHIS, TN 38122 1,465,148 $2,344 RG272-00569 COLTRANS INC. C/O SAM CROCKER OR WILSON, KELLER & ASSOCIATES P.O. BOX 221145 MEMPHIS, TN 38122 1,722,725 $2,756 RG272-00580 STANDARD CHLORINE CHEMICAL CO. C/O MAUREEN WALSH 1035 BELLEVILLE TNPK. KEARNY, NJ 07032 89,009,168 $142,415 Totals: 8 367,785,622 $588,456
Last Updated on 7/9/97
By OHA