Case No. RF272-57009
November 13, 1997
DECISION AND ORDER
OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Applications for Refund
Names of Petitioners: Belle Pass Towing Corp. et al.
Dates of Filings: May 20, 1988 et al.
Case Numbers: RF272-57009 et al.
This Decision and Order will consider the Applications for Refund filed by sixteen claimants that purchased refined petroleum products during the period August 19, 1973, through January 27, 1981 (the crude oil price control period). Each applicant has requested a refund from crude oil monies available for disbursement by the Office of Hearings and Appeals of the Department of Energy under 10 C.F.R. Part 205, Subpart V. 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).
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 as a result of the alleged 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.
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).
Each of the applicants considered in this Decision and Order is an end-user and bought petroleum products to operate its business,
with one exception.(1)Each applicant has derived its purchase volume claim by using actual records or a reasonable estimation technique. We have carefully reviewed the information submitted by the applicants, and have determined that the information provided by the applicants sufficiently supports their requests for refunds.(2)
Eight of the applications considered in this Decision were filed on behalf of Unique Processing Company, Inc (Unique). Unique was dissolved in 1989. In the case of a corporation not dissolved through bankruptcy, it has been the policy of the OHA to award the refund to the former stockholders according to their respective ownership interests in the corporation at the time of dissolution. See Gulf Oil Corporation/Pates Gulf, 22 DOE ¶ 85,219 (1992). Therefore, those Unique shareholders who filed refund claims are entitled to refunds proportionate to their percentages of ownership at the time of dissolution.(3)These ownership shares and percentage ownership are shown in the chart below. These applicants have demonstrated that Unique purchased a total amount of 2,454,133 gallons of petroleum products during the refund period. The firms total potential refund at the current volumetric amount is therefore $3,927 (2,454,133 gallons x $0.0016), 82.99% of which ($3,258) has been awarded to the eight shareholders who applied.
Name and Case No.
Number of shares owned at time of dissolution
Percentage of total outstanding stock
RF272-57055
James R. Reich
24,792
28.80
RG272-01078
Mark H. Amsterdam
5,000
5.81
RG272-01079
Carl L. Griggs, Sr.
5,500
6.39
RG272-01080
Holly Kanfer
4,000
4.65
RG272-01081
Richard Kanfer
4,000
4.65
RG272-01082
Arthur Kanfer
1,000
1.16
RG272-01083
Lou Meltzer
24,293
28.22
RG272-01084
John M. Staten, Jr.
2,850
3.31
Totals:
71,435 (out of 86,089 total outstanding shares)
82.99
Since the applicants who are granted refunds in this Decision are end-users of refined petroleum products, they are presumed injured by the crude oil overcharges and are entitled to receive their full allocable share 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 total volume for which refunds are approved in this Decision is 21,457,157 gallons, and the sum of the refunds granted is $34,332.
One of the applicants, Mountain View, filed its Application through Energy Refunds, Inc., a private filing service. In accordance with Mountain Views request, its refund check will be sent to Energy Refunds, Inc. Five of the applicants filed their applications through Petroleum Funds, Inc. However, in accordance with their requests, we will send the refund checks to these applicants directly. Some of the remaining applicants filed their applications through Federal Action. However, the refund checks for those applicants will be sent to the applicants directly for the reason described in Crude Oil Supplemental Refund Distribution, 26 DOE ¶ 85,039 (1997).
The final deadline for the crude oil refund proceeding was June 30, 1995. It is the current policy of the DOE to pay crude oil refund claimants at the current 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 sixteen 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 from the escrow account maintained at the Department of the Treasury denominated Crude Tracking- Claimants IV, Account No. 999DOE010Z, the amounts specified in the Appendix to this Decision and Order to the applicants specified in that Appendix.
(3) Mountain View Cooperative-Fairfield f/k/a Greenfield Farmers Oil shall notify its membership of the receipt of the refund and shall pass through to its cooperative member customers all crude oil refunds received in Subpart V refund proceedings conducted by the Office of Hearings and Appeals.
(4) To facilitate the payment of future refunds, each 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
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: November 13, 1997
Case Nos. RF272-57009 et al.
APPENDIX
Case No.
Payee
Purchase
Refund
and Applicant
and Address
Volume
[Gallons]
____________________________________
_____________________________
_
_________
___________
RF272-57009
Belle Pass Towing Corp.
9,537,191
$15,260
Belle Pass Towing Corp.
c/o David Gravois, Office Mgr.
308 South Bayou Drive
Golden Meadow, LA 70357-5212
RF272-57055
James R. Reich
*
706,744
$1,131
James R. Reich
1709 Briarcliff Circle
Dalton, GA 30720
RF272-95405
City of Lemoore
701,361
$1,122
City of Lemoore
c/o Cheryl Silva, Finance Director
119 Fox Street
Lemoore, CA 93245
RF272-95556
West End School Dist. Re-2
187,362
$300
West End School Dist. Re-2
c/o Leah Roberts, Business Mgr.
P.O. Box 190
Naurita, CO 81422-0190
RF272-95615
Haven Public Schools
473,675
$758
Haven Public Schools
c/o Lori Blakesley, Business Mgr.
P.O. Box 130
Haven, KS 67543
RF272-95631
Dennis Township School Dist.
622,921
$997
Dennis Township School Dist.
c/o Paula Smith, Business Administrator
P.O. Box 363, Academy Rd.
Dennisville, NJ 08214
RF272-95647
Dewey County, SC
454,553
$727
Dewey County, SD
c/o Adele Enright, County Auditor
Courthouse P.O. Box 277
Timber Lake, SD 57656
RF272-95691
Cushing ISD, TX
124,478
$199
Cushing ISD,TX
c/o A. Ronald Tidwell, Superintendent
P.O. Box 337
Cushing, TX 75760
RF272-95725
Mountain View Cooperative-Fairfield
7,319,222
$11,711
Mountain View Cooperative-Fairfield
f/k/a Greenfield Farmers Oil OR
f/k/a Greenfield Farmers Oil
Energy Refunds, Inc.
c/o Eric Small
31 Small Lane
Hardin, KY 42048
RG272-01078
Mark H. Amsterdam
*
142,535
$228
Mark H. Amsterdam
7627 Westwind
Houston, TX 77071
RG272-01079
Carl L. Griggs, Sr.
*
156,788
$251
Carl L. Griggs, Sr.
P.O. Box 1186
Dalton, GA 30722-1186
RG272-01080
Holly L. Kanfer
*
114,028
$182
Holly L. Kanfer
325 W. 52nd St., Apt. 1A
New York, NY 10019
RG272-01081
Richard Kanfer
*
114,028
$182
Richard Kanfer
4625 West Nevso Drive
Las Vegas, NV 89103
RG272-01082
Arthur Kanfer
*
28,507
$46
Arthur Kanfer
752 W. Wesley Road
Atlanta, GA 30327
RG272-01083
Lou Meltzer
*
692,519
$1,108
Lou Meltzer
9910 Harbor Lake Circle
Boynton Beach, FL 33427
RG272-01084
John M. Staten, Jr.
*
81,245
$130
John M. Staten, Jr.
2295 Crow Valley Road
Dalton, GA 30720
____________________________________
_____________________________
_
_________
___________
Sixteen Applicants
21,457,157
$34,332
* Purchases allocated for administrative
purposes in accordance with percentage
of stock ownership in Unique Processing Co., Inc.
(1)Mountain View Cooperative-Fairfield f/k/a Greenfield Farmers Oil (Mountain View), Case No. RF272-95725, is an agricultural cooperative that bought petroleum products for resale to its 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). 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. Mountain View has provided this certification.
(2) We reduced the estimated gallonage of one applicant, Belle Pass Towing Corp., RF272-57009, in order that the estimate of its purchases in 1974 be more consistent with purchase volumes for which records exist.
(3)The original application on behalf of Unique, Case No. RF272- 57055, was submitted prior to Uniques dissolution. Because this Office did not act on the timely and accurate application prior to dissolution, we are allowing the shareholders at the time of dissolution to receive refunds despite the fact that, with one exception, they did not file refund claims until after the June 30, 1995 crude oil proceeding deadline. See Dixie Hauling Co., Inc., 26 DOE ¶ 85,023 at n.3 (1997).