[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 157 (Thursday, August 14, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 43526-43527]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-21539]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Office of Hearings and Appeals


Notice of Issuance of Decisions and Orders During the Week of 
June 30 Through July 4, 1997

    During the week of June 30 through July 4, 1997, the decisions and 
orders summarized below were issued with respect to appeals, 
applications, petitions, or other requests filed with the Office of 
Hearings and Appeals of the Department of Energy. The following summary 
also contains a list of submissions that were dismissed by the Office 
of Hearings and Appeals.
    Copies of the full text of this decision and order are available in 
the Public Reference Room of the Office of Hearings and Appeals, Room 
1E-234, Forrestal Building, 1000 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, 
D.C. 20585-0107, Monday through Friday, between the hours of 1:00 p.m. 
and 5:00 p.m., except federal holidays. The decision is also available 
in Energy Management: Federal Energy Guidelines, a commercially 
published loose leaf reporter system and on the Office of Hearings and 
Appeals World Wide Web site at http://www.oha.doe.gov.

    Dated: August 6, 1997.
George B. Breznay,
Director, Office of Hearings and Appeals.

Decision List No. 40

Week of June 30 Through July 4, 1997

Appeals

Information Focus on Energy, 7/3/97, VFA-0300

    The Department of Energy (DOE) issued a Decision and Order (D&O) 
granting in part a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Appeal that was 
filed by Information Focus on Energy (IFOE). In its Appeal, IFOE 
requested that the DOE review a fee waiver determination issued by the 
FOIA Officer at the Ohio Field Office. In that determination, the 
Officer found that IFOE was a ``commercial use'' requester for purposes 
of assessing fees, and that the fee waiver request should be denied 
because IFOE's commercial interests outweighed the public interest in 
release of the requested material. In the Decision, the DOE found that 
IFOE should be classified as a ``representative of the news media'' for 
fee determination purposes. The DOE further concluded that because the 
commercial interest of a news media requester cannot be taken into 
account in fee waiver decisions, the Officer's determination cannot be 
upheld. The DOE therefore remanded the matter to the Ohio Field Office 
for a new waiver determination.


[[Page 43527]]


International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, 6/30/97, VFA-0299

    The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) filed an 
Appeal from a determination issued to it on April 28, 1997, by the 
Savannah River Operations Office (SR) of the Department of Energy 
(DOE). That determination was issued in response to a request for 
information submitted by IBEW under the Freedom of Information Act. The 
request sought material regarding union-related activities at SR. SR 
issued two determinations regarding this request on October 10, 1996, 
and November 8, 1996, and IBEW appealed SR's final responses to the 
Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) on December 12, 1996. In those 
determinations, SR partially granted IBEW's request for information and 
released numerous documents responsive to IBEW's request. On Appeal, 
IBEW clarified its initial request and OHA remanded the clarified 
request back to SR for a further search for responsive documents. SR 
issued a determination which stated that it conducted a search of its 
files and found no additional documents responsive to IBEW's clarified 
request. This Appeal challenged the adequacy of the search conducted by 
SR. In considering the Appeal, the DOE found that SR conducted an 
adequate search which was reasonably calculated to discover documents 
responsive to IBEW's request. Accordingly, the Appeal was denied.

Personnel Security Hearing

Personnel Security Hearing, 7/3/97, VSO-0133

    A Hearing Officer found that an individual had not successfully 
mitigated security concerns arising from his pattern of irresponsible 
behavior that tended to show that the individual was not honest, 
reliable, and trustworthy. Accordingly, the Hearing Officer recommended 
in the Opinion that the individual's access authorization not be 
restored.

Refund Applications

    The Office of Hearings and Appeals issued the following Decisions 
and Orders concerning refund applications, which are not summarized. 
Copies of the full texts of the Decisions and Orders are available in 
the Public Reference Room of the Office of Hearings and Appeals.

F. HURLBUT CO. LIQUIDATING PAR, ET AL....................  RK272-03407                                   6/30/97
LOIS A. SKALLERUD, ET AL.................................  RK272-1967                                     7/2/97
RANDY CAPE, ET AL........................................  RK272-04185                                    7/2/97
REGAL MARINE, INC,.......................................  RG272-608                                     6/30/97
                                                                                                                

Dismissals

    The following submissions were dismissed.

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                     Name                               Case No.        
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DIAMOND SHAMROCK, INC........................  RF340-00150              
ELITE AMBULANCE & MEDICAL COACH..............  RK272-04490              
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[FR Doc. 97-21539 Filed 8-13-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P