[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 78 (Friday, April 23, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19998-19999]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-10192]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Office of Hearings and Appeals
Announcement of Final Deadline to Request Supplemental Crude Oil
Overcharge Refunds
AGENCY: Office of Hearings and Appeals, Department of Energy.
ACTION: Notice of final deadline for crude oil overcharge refund
recipients to request the $.0008 per gallon supplemental refund first
announced in 1995 in the crude oil overcharge refund proceeding (RF272
Case Nos.).
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SUMMARY: The Office of Hearings and Appeals of the Department of Energy
has set a January 31, 2000 deadline for requesting the $.0008 per
gallon supplemental refund first announced in 1995 in the crude oil
overcharge refund proceeding. The deadline applies to all refund
recipients eligible for a supplemental refund of $50 or more. Those
refund recipients that do not request a supplemental refund by the
deadline will forfeit the supplemental refund and any further payment
from crude oil overcharge funds. Small refund recipients, i.e., those
eligible for a supplemental refund less than $50, continue to have the
option of requesting a supplemental refund until the conclusion of the
crude oil overcharge refund proceeding.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Thomas L. Wieker, Deputy Director, or
Janet N. Freimuth, Deputy Assistant Director, Office of Hearings and
Appeals, Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW,
Washington, DC 20585-0107, telephone number 202-426-1527, FAX 202-426-
1415.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Department of Energy's crude oil
overcharge refund proceeding began over twelve years ago. In August
1986, the DOE announced its policy concerning the administration of a
proceeding to refund crude oil overcharge funds to injured purchasers
of refined petroleum products. See 51 FR 27,899 (August 4, 1986)
(Modified Statement of Restitutionary Policy in Crude Oil Cases
(MSRP)). That same month, the first crude oil refund application was
filed. Pursuant to the MSRP, the OHA announced, in April 1987, that it
would use the refund procedures at 10 CFR part 205, Subpart V, to
process crude oil refund applications. 52 FR 11,737 (1987). The OHA
accepted crude oil refund applications until the June 1995 deadline.
As the OHA has conducted the crude oil overcharge refund
proceeding, the DOE has continued to collect additional overcharge
funds. Under the MSRP, up to 20 percent of crude oil overcharge funds
are reserved for direct refunds to claimants through the OHA pursuant
to Subpart V. The remaining 80 percent is divided equally between the
federal government (40 percent) and the states (40 percent) for
indirect restitution. Because of the potential availability of
additional funds, the OHA decisions approving refund applications
advise the refund recipient to inform the OHA of any change of address.
The amount of a refund is based on the refund recipient's volume of
refined petroleum product purchases, multiplied by a per gallon refund
amount, referred to as the ``volumetric refund amount'' or simply the
``volumetric.'' The larger a firm's or individual's purchases, the
greater the injury from crude oil overcharges and therefore the greater
the refund. As the DOE has collected additional crude oil overcharge
funds, the OHA has raised the volumetric. The OHA originally paid crude
oil overcharge refund recipients at a rate of $.0002 per gallon. The
OHA has raised the volumetric twice. First, in 1989, the OHA raised the
volumetric to $.0008 per gallon; the OHA sent a supplemental payment of
$.0006 per gallon to those refund recipients that had been paid at the
$.0002 rate. See Crude Oil Supplemental Refund Distribution, 18 DOE
para. 85,878 (1989). Second, in 1995, the OHA raised the volumetric to
$.0016 per gallon; the OHA notified refund recipients that had been
paid at the $.0008 per gallon volumetric of the availability of a
$.0008 supplemental payment. See 60 FR. 15562 (March 24, 1995).
The OHA's 1995 notice advised refund recipients that if they wished
to receive a supplemental payment at that time, they should verify to
the OHA that certain information was still correct, such as their
address. The 1995 notice stated that refund recipients could wait until
the end of the proceeding to receive their supplemental payment, as
well as any final payment that might be made.
The OHA mailed the 1995 notice to over 56,000 refund recipients
that had filed directly with the OHA for their original refund, i.e.,
refund recipients that did not file through a representative. The
mailing went to each such recipient whose supplemental refund would be
$50 or more, i.e., refund recipients with approved purchases of 62,500
gallons or more. Although the OHA did not mail to small refund
recipients, i.e., those entitled to less than $50, the OHA stated that
those refund recipients could request a supplemental refund. In
addition to the mailing to the over 56,000 recipients that did not file
through a representative, the OHA mailed a notice to the
representatives of an additional 12,000 refund recipients.
Since 1995, the OHA has granted supplemental refunds totaling $268
million to 56,000 recipients. At the same time, the OHA has almost
completed its consideration of the original crude oil overcharge refund
applications. The OHA has granted a total of $597 million to 91,500
recipients. Of the total 100,000 applications filed, only 1,000 remain
pending.
The OHA has now determined that a January 31, 2000 deadline for
requesting the $.0008 per gallon supplemental refund announced in 1995
should be set for refund recipients whose supplemental refund would be
$50 or more, i.e., refund recipients with approved purchases of 62,500
gallons or more. Both administrative efficiency and the goal of
achieving finality in the crude oil overcharge refund proceeding
warrant establishing the deadline. Over the last four years, the OHA
has granted supplemental refunds to 56,000 applicants, representing 335
million
[[Page 19999]]
gallons of approved purchases. A deadline for requesting a supplemental
refund is a necessary, interim step to the completion of the crude oil
overcharge refund proceeding, which has been pending over 12 years. In
order to make any final payment in the proceeding, we need to determine
the number of eligible recipients and the total amount available after
current supplemental payments are made. When we issued original refund
decisions, we advised refund recipients to keep us informed of address
changes, but some refund recipients failed to do so. We are concerned
that the addresses and other information for the refund recipients that
did not request a supplemental payment may not be current. For example,
the recipient may have a new address or the recipient may no longer
exist--an individual applicant may have died or a business entity may
have ceased operations. Setting a deadline for all supplemental
payments will allow us to identify those recipients that are either
unreachable or that are not interested in receiving a supplemental
refund. Those recipients will forfeit any further refund, which will
then allow us to calculate a final payment for all remaining
recipients, provided sufficient crude oil overcharge funds are left
over.
Based on the foregoing, we intend to mail notice of a January 31,
2000 deadline to the 10,000 refund recipients with approved purchases
of 62,500 gallons or more that have not yet requested a supplemental
refund. As stated above, a refund recipient with approved purchases of
62,500 gallons or more that does not request a supplemental refund by
January 31, 2000 will not be eligible for any further payment from
crude oil overcharge funds. The deadline does not apply to small refund
recipients, i.e., those with approved purchases of less than 62,500
gallons. We have concluded that mailing notice to such refund
recipients is not appropriate, given the small size of the refund (less
than $50) and the age of the addresses in our data base. Small refund
recipients continue to have the option of requesting a supplemental
refund until the conclusion of the crude oil overcharge refund
proceeding.
Dated: April 15, 1999.
George B. Breznay,
Director, Office of Hearings and Appeals, Department of Energy,
Washington, DC.
[FR Doc. 99-10192 Filed 4-22-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P
