Case No. RF272-95741

May 1, 1998

DECISION AND ORDER

OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Application for Refund

Names of Petitioners: North Central Local School District, et al.

Dates of Filings: May 19, 1994, et al.

Case Numbers: RF272-95741 et al.

This Decision and Order will consider Applications for Refund filed by eleven claimants that purchased refined petroleum products during the period August 19, 1973 through January 27, 1981. Each applicant listed in the Appendix attached to this Decision and Order has requested a refund from crude oil monies available for disbursement by the Office of Hearings and Appeals of the Department of Energy pursuant to the Statement of Modified Restitutionary Policy In Crude Oil Cases, 51 Fed Reg. 27899 (August 4, 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 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 (1981). Some of the applicants considered in this Decision and Order are agricultural cooperatives that bought petroleum products for resale to their 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). (1)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. (2) One of the applicants considered in this Decision and Order

was submitted by Petroleum Funds, Inc., a private filing service located in Paris, Tennessee.

The amount of an applicant’s refund is equal to $0.0016 per gallon multiplied by the volume of its purchases. Each of the applicants listed in the Appendix has documented its purchase volumes. 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 69,028,860 gallons and the sum of the refunds granted is $110,447.

It Is Therefore Ordered That:

(1) The Applications for Refund filed by the claimants listed in the Appendix 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 the refund amounts set forth in the Appendix to

this Decision and Order from the DOE deposit fund escrow account maintained at the

Department of Treasury denominated Crude Tracking-Claimants IV, Account No.

999DOE010Z, to the applicants listed in the Appendix.

(3) The cooperative applicants shall pass through any refunds they receive to their members on a dollar for dollar basis.

(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 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: May 1, 1998

(1)All of the cooperatives considered in this Decision and Order have provided this certification.

(2)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.


Appendix
CASE NO. APPLICANT CONTACT STREET ADDRESS CITY/STATE VOLUME REFUND
RF272-95741 NORTH CENTRAL LCL SCHOOL DIST. C/O BOBBI BROWN OR PETROLEUM FUNDS, INC. P.O. BOX 1380 PARIS, TN 382429986 203,097 $325
RF272-95742 BROWNWOOD IND. SCHOOL DIST. C/O ROYCE BLACKBURN 2707 SOUTHSIDE DR. BROWNWOOD, TX 76801 35,670 $57
RF272-95753 CLEARWATER COUNTY HWY. DEPT. C/O LEE H. BERGET RT. 1, BOX 17 BAGLEY, MN 56621 344,710 $552
RF272-95756 COFFEE CREEK FARMERS UNION INC C/O RANDY BOKMA HC 76, BOX 99 COFFEE CREEK, MT 59424 1,470,624 $2,353
RF272-96140 SOMERVILLE PUBLIC SCHOOLS C/O DANIEL MACERO 93 SCHOOL ST. SOMERVILLE, MA 02143 6,310,987 $10,098
RF272-96143 MONTROSE CONSUMERS OIL CORP. C/O DALLAS COLLINS 131 MAIN ST. MONTROSE, CO 81401 6,193,181 $9,909
RF272-96173 PHEND & BROWN, INC. C/O STUART PHILLIPS P.O. BOX 150; 321 E. 1250 N. MILFORD, IN 46542 9,966,266 $15,946
RF272-96203 AGLAND COOP C/O MIKE SCHWINLER BOX C PARKSTON, SD 57366 30,144,390 $48,231
RG272-00148 PALISADE CO-OP OIL ASSN. C/O JERRY WICKSTROM P.O. BOX 95 PALISADE, MN 56469 5,292,759 $8,468
RG272-00156 HOPE CO-OP CREAMERY ASSN. C/O GENE KRUCKEBERG BOX 117 HOPE, MN 56046 4,623,672 $7,398
RG272-00199 NASSAU OIL C/O ROGER LONGHENERY P.O. BOX 179 NASSAU, MN 56272 4,443,504 $7,110
TOTALS: 11       69,028,860 $110,447
             


Last Updated on 6/9/98
By OHA