April 23, 2003

DECISION AND ORDER

OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Supplemental Order

Name of Case: Crude Oil Supplemental Refund Distribution

Date of Filing: April 21, 2003

Case Number: RB272-00169

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 the jurisdiction of the DOE's Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA). See Statement of 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 August 19, 1973 through January 27, 1981, multiplied by a per gallon refund 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 have been calculated to date by multiplying the number of gallons of eligible refined petroleum products purchased by the applicant by $0.0008 (the volumetric factor). That volumetric factor has 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 smaller 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. Accordingly, applicants who previously received a refund will receive a supplemental refund based on an additional $0.0008 per gallon. 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 have issued a series of Decision and Orders approving supplemental refunds as we have received completed verification forms from applicants or certifications from representatives.

This Decision and Order contains the name and address of a recipient receiving a supplemental refund check. The Decision and Order also indicates the original case number of the applicant and the dollar amount of the supplemental refund. The additional refund being approved in this Order is $2,459.

Further, we are now paying first-time crude oil refund recipients at the new, aggregate volumetric rate of $0.0016 per gallon.

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:

A.J. Raisch Paving Co.

c/o Michael McHale

P.O. Box 643

San Jose, CA 95106

(Original Case No. RF272-36871)

(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 any 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 :

Office of Hearings and Appeals

HG-1/L’Enfant Plaza Building

U.S. Department of Energy

1000 Independence Ave., SW

Washington, D.C. 20585-1615

(4) Any conditions 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: April 23, 2003