Case No. RR300-00289

February 14, 1997

DECISION AND ORDER

OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Motion for Reconsideration

Name of Applicant: Gulf Oil Corporation/

Bounds Oil Company

Date of Filing: February 6, 1997

Case Number: RR300-289

On December 19, 1996, the Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) of the Department of Energy (DOE) dismissed as incomplete an Application for Refund filed by Mr. H. V. Bounds, Jr. on behalf of Bounds Oil Company (BOC) in the Gulf Oil Corporation special refund proceeding (Case No. RF300-16969). This Decision and Order considers a Motion for Reconsideration (Motion) filed on behalf of BOC by Mr. Bounds. If this Motion is approved, Mr. Bounds will receive a portion of the refund available to BOC for its purchases of Gulf products during the Gulf consent order period (August 1973 to January 1981).

The Refund Application

In the original Application, Case No. RF300-16969, Mr. Bounds claimed that BOC purchased 3,553,256 gallons of petroleum products under Gulf Customer Number 2004362-6 during the Gulf consent order period. Mr. Bounds submitted a copy of the Gulf Customer List which shows that a business operated by Mr. E. F. Bounds located at P.O. Box 427 in Weldon, North Carolina purchased that number of gallons of Gulf product under that Customer Number during the relevant time period. That is the address listed on BOC receipts included in Mr. Bounds' Application for Refund on behalf of BOC.

However, Mr. Bounds had not submitted any information verifying that he was the heir of the business partners who operated BOC during the consent order period. Accordingly, we requested that he provide documentation demonstrating that BOC was a partnership during the consent order period and that he was the sole heir of one or both of these partners. Despite two written requests for this information (mailed on

February 14, 1996 and July 26, 1996), and one telephone call to Mr. Bounds on July 26, 1996, Mr. Bounds did not submit the information necessary to complete the BOC Application for Refund. Therefore, on December 19, 1996, we dismissed as incomplete the Application for Refund filed by Mr. Bounds on behalf of BOC, Case No. RF300-16969.

Motion for Reconsideration

In early January, 1997, Mr. Bounds contacted the OHA concerning the dismissal of BOC's refund claim. He stated that he had experienced difficulty in obtaining specific documentation concerning his father's and his uncle's ownership interests in BOC, and also was unable to document that he was the sole heir of his uncle, Edgar Bounds. His confusion concerning the nature of acceptable documentation on these issues resulted in Mr. Bounds deciding not to submit any additional information. Mr. Bounds then requested advice on the documentation required to support his refund claim. In a January 6, 1997 letter confirming this conversation, we stated that we would reconsider our dismissal of his claim on behalf of BOC, if he would confirm in writing the following statements made in that conversation:

(1) BOC was a partnership, and that ownership of this partnership was divided equally between Mr. Bounds' father, H.V. Bounds, Sr., and his uncle, Edgar Bounds; and

(2) Mr. Bounds is the sole heir of his father, H.V. Bounds, Sr.

See January 6, 1997 letter from Thomas L. Wieker, Deputy Director, OHA, to H.V. Bounds, Jr. On February 3, 1997, we received a signed statement from Mr. Bounds confirming these assertions. We will treat that statement as a Motion for Reconsideration, requesting that we grant a refund to Mr. Bounds for the gallons claimed by BOC in Case No. RF300-16969.

Conclusions

We commenced accepting Refund Applications in the Gulf refund proceeding on September 8, 1987, more than eight years ago. While the originally-announced deadline for such submissions was June 30, 1988, we continued to liberally accept Applications after the deadline. In June 1992, after reviewing the length of time the refund period had been open, and noting that we had already received more than 20,000 Gulf Refund Applications, we concluded that eligible Applicants had been provided ample opportunity to file. Therefore, we announced that we would not accept Applications postmarked after March 1, 1993. We published a Notice to that effect in the Federal Register, stating specifically that all new Applications for Refund from the Gulf consent Order fund postmarked after the final filing date of March 1, 1993 would be subject to summary dismissal. 57 Fed. Reg. 27771 (June 22, 1992).

See also, Gulf Oil Corporation/Evarts Service Station, 23 DOE ¶ 85,016 (1993).

Although the filing deadline for new cases has passed, we will generally review all Motions for Reconsideration to see if a compelling reason to re-open the case is presented. See Gulf Oil Corporation/Villa Maria Gulf, Case No. RF300-00251 (April 23, 1993). After analyzing the Motion submitted by Mr. Bounds, we have determined that there are compelling reasons for the claim to be reconsidered. Mr. Bounds experienced difficulty in understanding the various means by which he could meet our requirements for documentation in this matter. He also did not understand that it was not necessary for him to document that he was the sole heir of both his father and his uncle in order to receive a portion of the BOC refund. This apparent confusion provides a reasonable explanation of why Mr. Bounds did not respond to our information requests.

We find that the Motion for Reconsideration filed by Mr. Bounds has met the standards established for Motions for Reconsideration in the Gulf proceeding. In reexamining this case, we note that Mr. Bounds has now submitted a signed statement verifying that BOC was a partnership owned equally by his father, H. V. Bounds, Sr., and his uncle, Edgar Bounds, during the period August 1973 to January 1981. On the Gulf Customer List, a listing exists for E. F. Bounds at the documented address for BOC. Accordingly, we conclude that this listing is for Gulf products purchased by the BOC partnership. We therefore find that BOC purchased 3,553,256 gallons of Gulf products for Gulf customer number 2004362-6 during the consent order period. Mr. Bounds has indicated that he believes the gallonage claim listed in BOC's Application for Refund is reasonable. Mr. Bounds' signed statement also verifies that he is the sole heir of his father, H. V. Bounds, Sr., who owned half of BOC during the relevant time period. We conclude that Mr. Bounds has documented that he is entitled to fifty percent of BOC's Gulf refund as heir to his father's share of the BOC partnership.

Under these circumstances, we have determined that this Motion for Reconsideration should be granted. Mr. Bounds will receive a refund amount equal to one half of BOC's allocable share of the Gulf consent order funds (the principal amount), as well as the interest accrued on this principal since the consent order funds were placed in escrow.(1) The total refund amount (principal and interest) allocable to BOC in this proceeding is (3,553,256 x $.00125 = $4,442). Mr. Bounds will receive fifty percent of that amount or $2,221.

It Is Therefore Ordered That:

(1) The Motion for Reconsideration filed on by Mr. H. V. Bounds on behalf of Bounds Oil Company, Case No. RR300-289, is hereby granted 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 a total of $2,221 from the DOE deposit fund escrow account maintained at the Department of the Treasury and funded by Gulf Oil Corporation, Consent Order No. RGFA00001Z, to:

Mr. H. V. Bounds

311 Shell Drive

Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina 27870

(3) The determinations made in this Decision and Order are based on the presumed validity of statements and documentary material submitted by the Applicant. Any of these determinations may be revoked or modified at any time upon a determination that the factual basis underlying the Application for Refund is incorrect.

(4) This is a final Order of the Department of Energy.

George B. Breznay

Director

Office of Hearings and Appeals

Date: February 14, 1997

(1)1/ Each Applicant's refund amount will be calculated by multiplying its approved gallonage by the total volumetric to date, which is $.00125 (principal volumetric of $.00064 + interest volumetric of $.00061 = $.00125).