Case No. RG272-01099
January 26, 2001
DECISION AND ORDER
OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Application for Refund
Name of Petitioners: Barbara Little Tavenner
Thomas Edward Little
Date of Filing: October 12, 2000
Case Number: RG272-01099
RG272-01100
This Decision and Order will consider Applications for Refund filed by Barbara Little Tavener and Thomas Edward Little. The applicants request a refund from the crude oil refund monies currently available for disbursement by the Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) pursuant to the OHA's authority under 10 C.F.R. Part 205, Subpart V.
Pursuant to current Department of Energy (DOE) policy, purchasers of refined petroleum products may apply to the OHA for a refund from crude oil overcharge funds collected by the DOE. Statement of Modified Restitutionary Policy in Crude Oil Cases, 51 Fed. Reg. 27899 (August 4, 1986). We have established refund procedures for these funds, which have been made available through court approved settlements, remedial orders and consent orders entered into by the DOE and numerous firms that sold crude oil during the period of price controls. See, e.g., New York Petroleum, Inc., 18 DOE ¶ 85,435 (1988); Ernest A. Allerkamp, 17 DOE ¶ 85,079 (1988); A. Tarricone, Inc., 15 DOE ¶ 85,495 (1987). The refund procedures set forth in these cases specify that in order to receive a refund, an applicant generally must: (i) document its purchase volumes during the period of price controls; and (ii) show that it was injured by alleged crude oil overcharges.
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 by the overcharges. Applicants that were end-users of petroleum products and whose business was unrelated to the petroleum industry, however, are presumed to have been injured. City of Columbus, Georgia, 16 DOE ¶ 85,550 (1987).
Meritorious claimants are eligible to receive refunds equal to the number of gallons of petroleum products they purchased during the period of price controls multiplied by a per-gallon or volumetric refund amount. The volumetric refund amount is $0.0016 per gallon. We derived this refund amount by dividing the total crude oil refund monies available by the total consumption of petroleum products in the United States during the period of price controls (2,020,997,335,000 gallons).
The present application relates to purchases of refined petroleum products by Carolina Sales Corporation (CSC) during the crude oil price control period, August 19, 1973 through January 27, 1981. The corporation
has since been dissolved, at which time the late Pauline Little was the owner of 30% of the stock of CSC. Each applicant was heir to 45% of the estate of Ms. Little. We have therefore determined that each applicant is eligible to receive a refund based upon 13.5% of the 565,429 gallons of petroleum products that CSC purchased during the period of crude oil price controls. Thus, each applicant will receive a refund of $122, based upon purchases of 76,333 gallons multiplied by the volumetric amount, $0.0016 per gallon.
It Is Therefore Ordered That:
(1) The Applications for Refund filed by the Barbara Little Tavenner, Case No. RG272-01099, and Thomas Edward Little, Case No. RG272-01100, for all available crude oil overcharge funds, are hereby approved as set forth in Paragraphs (2) and (3) 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 fund denominated Crude Tracking-Claimants 4, Account No. 999DOE010Z, maintained at the Department of Treasury, the sum of $122 to:
Barbara Little Tavenner
20 Palazzo
Newport Beach, CA 92660
(3) 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 fund denominated Crude Tracking-Claimants 4, Account No. 999DOE010Z, maintained at the Department of Treasury, the sum of $122 to:
Thomas Edward Little
2414 Umstead Ave.
Greenville, NC 27858-4721
(4) To facilitate the payment of future refunds and interest, an 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
Washington, DC 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: January 26, 2001