[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 115 (Tuesday, June 16, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 32876-32877]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-15953]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Office of Hearings and Appeals


Notice of Issuance of Decisions and Orders; Week of February 23 
Through February 27, 1998

    During the week of February 23 through February 27, 1998, 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, 950 
L'Enfant Plaza, SW, Washington, D.C., Monday through Friday, 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: June 4, 1998.
George B. Breznay,
Director, Office of Hearings and Appeals.

Decision List No. 74: Week of February 23 Through February 27, 1998

Appeals

INEEL Research Bureau, 2/26/98, VFA-0373

    DOE granted an appeal of determination in response to a request for 
an index of classified documents. OHA found that the DOE's Idaho 
Operations Office (DOE/ID) did not release indices that were responsive 
to a broadly worded request submitted by the appellant. The matter was 
therefore remanded to DOE/ID.

Sandra M. Hart, 2/27/98, VFA-0372

    The DOE's Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) issued a decision 
granting in part a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Appeal filed by 
Sandra M. Hart. Hart sought the release of three portion of an EEO 
complaint filed by a third party that were withheld to by the DOE's 
Idaho Operations Office (Idaho). In its decision, OHA found that 
Idaho's withholding of this information was appropriate under FOIA 
Exemptions 6, 7(C) and 7(A). Accordingly, the Appeal was denied.

Personnel Security Hearing

Personnel Security Hearing, 2/24/98, VSO-0176

    A Hearing Officer found that an individual had not successfully 
mitigated security concerns arising from her severe depression and use 
of controlled substances without a prescription. Accordingly, the 
Hearing Officer recommended that the individual's access authorization 
not be restored.

Request for Exception

Public Service Electric and Gas (New Jersey), 2/24/98, VEE-0044

    The Public Service Electric and Gas of New Jersey (PSE&G) filed a 
request for confidential treatment of certain data that the firm 
submits to the Energy Information Administration (EIA) in connection 
with EIA's survey and monitoring of domestic electric power production. 
The PSE&G request was based upon the increasingly competitive nature of 
the market for electric power, and the argument that in the hands of 
its competitors, the data would allow competitors to know PSE&G's 
marginal cost of electrical power production, to the detriment of the 
firm. In view of the broad implications of the PSE&G argument, the 
Office of Hearings and Appeals negotiated an agreement under which EIA 
(1) would not generally release the data in question for any reporting 
electric utility, and (2) would issue a Federal Register notice 
soliciting comments from the industry and the public on confidentiality 
associated with the EIA electric surveys in order to re-evaluate EIA's 
data disclosure policy in this area. The EIA commenced the processes to 
which it agreed and, on

[[Page 32877]]

February 11, 1998, the PSE&G request was dismissed.

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.

Crude Oil Supplemental Refund Dist.......................  RB272-0133                                    2/27/98
Crude Oil Supplemental Refund Dist.......................  RB272-0134                                    2/27/98
Tejas Trucking, Inc. et al...............................  RK272-04704                                   2/27/98
The Augsbury Organization, Inc...........................  RK272-3844                                    2/24/98
The Augsbury Organization, Inc...........................  RF304-15515                            ..............
The Augsbury Organization, Inc...........................  RC272-379                              ..............
                                                                                                                

Dismissals

    The following submissions were dismissed.

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                     Name                               Case No.        
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American Aggregates Corp.....................  RF272-98820              
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[FR Doc. 98-15953 Filed 6-15-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P