[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 28 (Tuesday, February 11, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 6243-6244]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-3310]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Notice of Issuance of Decisions and Orders; Week of December 23 
Through December 27, 1996

    During the week of December 23 through December 27, 1996, 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 these decisions and orders are available 
in the Public Reference Room of the Office of Hearings and Appeals, 
Room 1E-234, Forrestal Building, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW, 
Washington, D.C. 20585-0107, Monday through Friday, between the hours 
of 1:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m., except federal holidays. They are also 
available in Energy Management: Federal Energy Guidelines, a 
commercially published loose leaf reporter system. Some decisions and 
orders are available on the Office of Hearings and Appeals World Wide 
Web site at http://www.oha.doe.gov.

    Dated: February 3, 1997.
George B. Breznay,
Director, Office of Hearings and Appeals.

Decision List No. 13

Appeals

Michael A. Grosche, 12/23/96, VFA-0193

    Michael A. Grosche filed an Appeal from a determination issued by 
the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of the Department of Energy 
(DOE) in response to a Request for Information submitted under the 
Freedom of Information Act. OIG had withheld names and other 
information from memoranda on the outcome of a closed investigation 
into alleged misbilling by sub-contractor employees which revealed no 
pecuniary loss to the

[[Page 6244]]

government. In considering the Appeal, the DOE determined that all of 
the documents were generated for a law enforcement purpose and that 
under those conditions, review would be under Exemption 7(C). In 
applying Exemption 7(C), the DOE found that OIG properly withheld the 
names of persons interviewed and investigated. However, the DOE 
remanded to the OIG for further consideration the withholding of names 
of federal employees who did not appear to be persons OIG either 
investigated or interviewed, but who only seemed to be performing their 
official functions. The DOE also remanded for further consideration all 
other withheld material such as subcontract numbers and billing 
accounts because none of the material appeared on its face to involve 
any privacy interest, but did appear to address a public interest in 
whether certain governmental-funded activities were well or poorly 
managed and how the Federal Acquisition Regulation may have been 
violated. Accordingly, the Appeal was denied in part, granted in part 
and remanded to OIG for further consideration.

Glen Milner, 12/23/96, VFA-0238

    Glen Milner (Appellant) filed an Appeal of two Determinations 
issued to him by the Department of Energy (DOE) in response to a 
request under the Freedom of Information Act. In the request, the 
Appellant asked for all documents, generated from 1985 to the present, 
concerning the ``White Train'', which carried nuclear weapons until the 
1980's. He also requested a fee waiver for costs associated with 
processing the FOIA request. On appeal, the OHA found that there is no 
provision in the DOE FOIA regulations permitting a conditional fee 
waiver, such as that requested by the Appellant. However, the OHA also 
found that disclosure of some of the information requested by the 
Appellant would be in the public interest, because it was likely to 
contribute significantly to government operations and activities. Under 
these circumstances the OHA determined that a fee waiver was 
appropriate with respect to the limited number of documents meeting 
those conditions. Accordingly, the DOE granted the Appeal in part.

Dismissals

    The following submissions were dismissed.

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                  Case name                             Case No.        
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James H. Stebbings...........................  VFA-0242                 
James R. Hutton..............................  VFA-0256                 
L.N. Asphalt Co., Inc........................  RG272-981                
Marlene Flor.................................  VFA-0253                 
Merlon Management Corp.......................  RG272-997                
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[FR Doc. 97-3310 Filed 2-10-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P