Case No. RF272-89296
June 17, 1997
DECISION AND ORDER
OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Application for Refund
Name of Petitioner: Veterans Administration Medical Center
Date of Filing: April 24, 1991
Case Number: RF272-89296
This Decision and Order will consider the Application for Refund filed by the Veterans Administration(1) Medical Center in Canandaigua, New York, a purchaser of refined petroleum products during the crude oil price control period, August 19, 1973 through January 27, 1981. The applicant requests a refund from the crude oil monies currently available for disbursement by the Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) pursuant to the OHA's authority under 10 C.F.R. Part 205, Subpart V.
I. Background
Pursuant to current Department of Energy (DOE) policy, purchasers of refined petroleum products may apply to the OHA for a refund from crude oil overcharge funds collected by the DOE. Statement of Modified Restitutionary Policy in Crude Oil Cases, 51 Fed. Reg. 27899 (August 4, 1986). We have established refund procedures for these funds, which have been made available through court approved settlements, remedial orders and consent orders entered into by the DOE and numerous firms that sold crude oil during the period of price controls. See, e.g., New York Petroleum, Inc., 18 DOE ¶ 85,435 (1988); Ernest A. Allerkamp, 17 DOE ¶ 85,079 (1988); A. Tarricone, Inc., 15 DOE ¶ 85,495 (1987). The refund procedures set forth in these cases specify that in order to receive a refund, an applicant generally must: (i) document its purchase volumes during the period of price controls; and (ii) show that it was injured by alleged crude oil overcharges.
End-users of petroleum products whose businesses are unrelated to the petroleum industry are presumed to have absorbed the crude oil overcharges and need not submit any further proof of injury to receive a refund. See, e.g., City of Columbus, 16 DOE ¶ 85,550 (1987); see also 52 Fed. Reg. 11737 at 11742 (April 10, 1987) (the April 10 Notice) and cases cited therein. The end-user presumption of injury is rebuttable, however. If an interested party submits evidence which is of sufficient weight to rebut the end-user presumption, the applicant will be required to produce further evidence of injury. Berry Holding Co., 16 DOE ¶ 85,405 at 88,797 (1987).
Meritorious claimants are eligible to receive refunds equal to the number of gallons of petroleum products they purchased during the period of price controls multiplied by a per-gallon or volumetric refund amount. The volumetric refund amount is $0.0016 per gallon. We derived this refund amount by dividing the total crude oil
refund monies available by the total consumption of petroleum products in the United States during the period of price controls (2,020,997,335,000 gallons).
The applicant seeks a refund for its purchases of fuel oil and gasoline. In its Application for Refund, the applicant has certified, based upon contemporaneous records and reasonable estimates, that it purchased a total of 9,530,747 gallons of petroleum products during the period of crude oil price controls. The applicant seeks a refund on the basis of these purchases, and relies on the presumption of injury for end-users.
We have determined that the applicant was an end-user of the refined petroleum products which form the basis for its refund application, i.e. the firm did not resell these products but consumed them in operations unrelated to the petroleum industry. Accordingly, the applicant is eligible to receive its full allocable share of the available crude oil monies. The principal refund amount equals the approved gallons of petroleum products which the firm purchased during the period of crude oil price controls, multiplied by the volumetric amount, $0.0016 per gallon. The principal refund amount, thus derived, is $15,249, based upon purchases of 9,530,747 gallons.
It Is Therefore Ordered That:
(1) The Application for Refund filed by the Veterans Administration Medical Center, Case No. RF272- 89296, for all available crude oil overcharge funds is 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 fund denominated Crude Tracking-Claimants 4, Account No. 999DOE010Z, maintained at the Department of Treasury, the sum of $15,249 to the Department of Veterans Affairs at the following address:
Leonard J. Malamud
Office of General Counsel (025A)
Department of Veterans Affairs
810 Vermont Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20420
(3) To facilitate the payment of future refunds and interest, an 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
Washington, DC 20585-0107
(4) 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.
(5) This is a final Order of the Department of Energy.
George B. Breznay
Director
Office of Hearings and Appeals
Date: June 17, 1997
(1) * The Veterans Administration is now a cabinet level federal agency, the Department of Veterans Affairs.