95-9934. New Filing Deadline in Special Refund Proceeding Involving Crude Oil Overcharge Refunds

[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 77 (Friday, April 21, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19914-19915]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-9934]



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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Office of Hearings and Appeals


New Filing Deadline in Special Refund Proceeding Involving Crude 
Oil Overcharge Refunds

AGENCY: Office of Hearings and Appeals, Department of Energy.

ACTION: Notice of new deadline for filing applications for refund in 
the crude oil overcharge special refund proceeding.

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SUMMARY: The Office of Hearings and Appeals of the Department of Energy 
has determined that the period for filing applications for refund in 
the crude oil overcharge special refund proceeding shall close on June 
30, 1995.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Thomas L. Wieker, Deputy Director, 
Virginia Lipton, Assistant Director, Office of Hearings and Appeals, 
Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue SW., Washington, DC 
20585, [phone] (Wieker), [phone] (Lipton).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On November 1, 1994, the Office of Hearings 
and Appeals (OHA) of the Department of Energy (DOE) issued a Notice 
stating that it would reopen the period for filing Subpart V crude oil 
overcharge refund applications and take comments on the issue of the 
appropriate closing date for filing refund claims in this proceeding. 
In the Notice we set a new tentative filing deadline of June 3, 1996. 
59 FR 55656 (November 8, 1994). The Notice further stated that comments 
regarding this issue should be provided by April 3, 1995. The period 
for filing comments has now closed. We have carefully reviewed the 
comments we received in order to set a final deadline for submission of 
refund applications.
    In all, we received comments from ten firms and individuals. Nine 
of these comments were submitted by entities that file refund claims on 
behalf of Subpart V crude oil overcharge refund claimants. We refer to 
such representatives as ``filing services.'' The tenth comment was 
filed by an attorney who represents a group of States. [Under the DOE's 
Modified Statement of Restitutionary Policy, the States and Territories 
of the United States and the federal government will receive the 
balance of any funds remaining after all disbursements to Subpart V 
crude oil overcharge claimants have been made.]
    The comments submitted by filing services that represent smaller 
claimants tended to favor extending the filing deadline as long as 
possible, even beyond the tentative June 3, 1996 deadline. These filing 
services believe that there are still many eligible claimants who have 
not applied for a refund. One commenter in this group estimated that 
there are between 500,000 and 1 million entities that used more than 
65,500 gallons of refined petroleum products during the August 1973 
through January 1981 refund period. This commenter believes that since 
the OHA has received only 100,000 Subpart V crude oil overcharge refund 
claims, there are many potential applicants who have not yet applied. 
Although they offer no supporting statistics, the other commenters in 
this group agree that there are many potential refund applicants who 
have not yet been contacted. In this regard, the commenters state that 
after the prior June 30, 1994 deadline passed, they closed their 
operations that focused on searching for these claimants. They suggest 
that they are now actively seeking new clients and that it will require 
significant additional time for them to fully reopen their searching 
processes and solicit new claimants. They therefore seek an extended 
additional refund application period.
    We are certainly aware that many potential refund applicants have 
not filed a crude oil overcharge refund claim. However, this fact, in 
and of itself, is not a reason to allow for [[Page 19915]] another long 
window of opportunity to file refund applications. Many firms and 
individuals may have already heard of the Subpart V refund process and 
simply decided not to apply for a refund. Further, even those that have 
not yet heard about the refund process might not wish to file a claim, 
even if they were made aware of their eligibility. We do not believe 
that it would be useful to hold open the refund process based upon the 
speculation raised by commenters. It is simply not feasible to hold the 
proceeding open to ensure that all eligible claimants have received 
notice of the opportunity to apply. We believe it is sufficient to 
provide adequate notice of the proceeding, and a reasonable period for 
applications to be submitted. We find that this notice and opportunity 
have been provided over the course of the eight-year refund period. 
Further, in view of the fact that notice of the reopening of this 
refund proceeding was published on November 8, 1994, we find that there 
has been adequate time for filing services to renew their search 
efforts and provide additional notification.
    The comments submitted by filing services representing larger 
refund applicants in this proceeding indicate that they are generally 
not now seeking to locate additional refund claimants. This group urged 
that the application period be quickly terminated. These firms and 
individuals point out that the longer the claim period remains open, 
the more delay there will be in terminating the entire crude oil 
overcharge refund process, and in disbursing the final refund payment. 
We believe that there is considerable merit to this position.
    We are also aware that a new, lengthy additional window of 
opportunity for filing refund claims may result in a large number of 
duplicate claims, administrative waste, and confusion among members of 
the public. Accordingly, we find that prompt closure of the refund 
application period will best promote our goals of administrative 
efficiency and finality. Therefore, the final date for filing 
Applications for Refund in the OHA Subpart V crude oil overcharge 
refund proceeding will be June 30, 1995. All crude oil refund 
applications must be postmarked no later than that date.

    Dated: April 17, 1995.
George B. Breznay,
Director, Office of Hearings and Appeals.
[FR Doc. 95-9934 Filed 4-20-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P