Case No. RK272-01890
December 30, 1998
DECISION AND ORDER
OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Supplemental Order
Names of Petitioners: William Elliott et al.
Dates of Filing: July 14, 1995 et al.
Case Numbers: RK272-01890 et al.
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.
The Appendix to this Decision and Order contains the names and addresses of a group of recipients receiving these supplemental refund checks. In each case, we were informed that there had been a change of circumstances since the previous refund was disbursed. Accordingly, we set up a new case file (designated RK272-)(2) and investigated whether the individual or firm that submitted the verification form (or upon whose behalf the form was submitted) was the proper party to receive the supplemental refund.(3)
If there are any future disbursements of crude oil funds, these cases will be known by their RK272- numbers and the refunds will be calculated on the adjusted gallonage amounts. The Appendix to this Decision and Order indicates the dollar amount of the supplemental refund granted to each applicant. The total amount of additional refunds being approved in this Order for the benefit of six recipients is $807.
It Is Therefore Ordered That:
(1) 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 supplemental refund to each Crude Oil Refund Recipient set forth in the Appendix to this Order.
(2) The funds shall be disbursed from the escrow fund denominated Crude Tracking-Claimants IV, Account No. 999DOE010Z, maintained at the Department of the Treasury.
(3) To facilitate the payment of future refunds, an applicant 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
Washington, D.C. 20585-0107
(4) Any conditions imposed that applied to an applicant's receipt of the initial crude oil refund shall also apply to that applicant's receipt of this supplemental refund.
(5) This is a final Order of the Department of Energy.
George B. Breznay
Director
Office of Hearings and Appeals
Date:December 30, 1998
[Case Nos. RK272-01890 et al.]
Case No.
Payee & Address
Purchase
Refund
RF Case No.
and Applicant
Volume
[Gallons]
___________________
________________________
___________
___________
_____________
RK272-01890
William Elliott
102,314
$82
RF272-44734
William Elliott
413 N. 19th Ave.
Fargo, ND 58102
RK272-01891
Veronica Theda
68,699
$55
RF272-35096
Veronica Theda
Apt. 3, 1030 Grover Ave.
Garner, IA 50438
RK272-01936
Charles Baldwin
61,975
$50
RF272-52174
Charles Baldwin
11904 State Rt. 28 W.
Greenfield, OH 45123
RK272-03311
Edmund Walton
204,820
$164
RF272-41805
Edmund Walton
Box 996
Wolf Point, MT 59201
RK272-04549
Waste Management of New
507,064
$406
RF272-35679
Waste Management of
Mexico
New Mexico
c/o Patty O'Niell
P.O. Box 15700
Rio Rancho, NM 87174
RK272-04896
Marvin Baldwin
61,975
$50
RF272-52174
Marvin Baldwin
12025 Jury Road
Greenfield, OH 45123
___________________
________________________
___________
___________
_____________
Six Applicants
Six Payees
1,006,847
$807
(1)We are now paying first-time crude oil refund recipients at the volumetric rate of $0.0016 per gallon.
(2)The new case number, RK272- replaces the case number (designated RF272-) which had formerly been assigned to each application. For all future purposes, the application will be known by the new case number.
(3)In one instance, Baldwin Farms, Case No. RF272-52174, we were informed that one of the two partners had sold his one-half interest to the other partner. Therefore, each claimant was assigned a separate RK272- case number, RK272-01936 and RK272-04896, and the approved volume claim was allocated to each claimant based upon the percentage of his interest, i.e., fifty percent to each applicant.