Mohawk Petroleum Corp. v. Department of the Navy

395 F. Supp. 933, 1975 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12172
CourtDistrict Court, C.D. California
DecidedMay 28, 1975
DocketNo. CV 75-3156-AAH
StatusPublished

This text of 395 F. Supp. 933 (Mohawk Petroleum Corp. v. Department of the Navy) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, C.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mohawk Petroleum Corp. v. Department of the Navy, 395 F. Supp. 933, 1975 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12172 (C.D. Cal. 1975).

Opinion

[934]*934FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

HAUK, District Judge.

Plaintiff having filed its complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief herein on April 21, 1975 and having on said date moved this Court for preliminary injunction and for advancement of trial and consolidation, and this Court having scheduled said motions for hearing on May 5, 1975, and thereafter continued said hearing to May 12, 1975 at the hour of 9:30 a. m., and defendants having filed a memorandum and an affidavit and certain exhibits in opposition to said motion for preliminary injunction, and

The cause having duly come on for hearing on May 12, 1975, and plaintiff appearing by its counsel, Girvan Peek and Morrison & Foerster, San Francisco, Cal., and defendants appearing by their counsel, John H. Broadley, Dept, of Justice, Washington, D. C., and John Nordin, Asst. U. S. Atty., Los Angeles, Cal., and said parties having stipulated through their attorneys that trial on the merits be advanced and consolidated with the hearing on plaintiff’s motion for preliminary injunction, and the Court, having received evidence and heard argument and being fully advised, hereby makes the following:

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. Plaintiff Mohawk Petroleum Corporation, Inc., (hereinafter “Mohawk”) is a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the State of California, with its principal place of business in Los Angeles, California. It is a small refiner of crude oil, operating one refinery located at Bakersfield, California, and a marketer of petroleum products, largely within the State of California.

2. Defendant Department of the Navy (hereinafter “the Navy”) is a department and instrumentality of the United States under the Act of August 10, 1956, e. 1041, 70A Stat. 1, 10 U.S.C. § 5001 et seq. (“Armed Forces Act”). The Navy is made responsible for the administration of the Naval Petroleum and Oil Shale Reserves by the Act of August 10, 1956, c. 1041, 70A Stat. 457, 10 U.S.C. § 7421 et seq., as amended Oct. 11, 1962, Pub.L. 87-796, § 1, 76 Stat. 904.

3. Defendant Jack L. Bowers (hereinafter “Bowers”) is Acting Secretary of the Navy for Naval Petroleum and 011 Shale Reserves.

4. Defendant Federal Energy Administration (hereinafter “FEA”) is an agency and instrumentality of the United States created by the Federal Energy Administration Act of 1974 (“Administration Act”), 15 U.S.C. § 761 et seq. It was implemented by Executive Order No. 11,790 (June 27, 1974). FEA is responsible for the administration of the-Emergency Petroleum Allocation Act of 1973, as amended (“Emergency Act”), 15 U.S.C. § 751 et seq. This responsibility previously was exercised by the Federal Energy Office (“FEO”), established by Executive Order No. 11,748, 3 C.F.R. § 376 (Supp.1974).

5. Defendant Frank G. Zarb (hereinafter “ZARB”) is Administrator of FEA. The authority which the Emergency Act vests in the President was delegated to the Administrator by Executive Order No. 11,790 (June 27, 1974).

6. On or about May 7, 1970 Mohawk entered into a contract with the Navy, a copy of which is attached to the complaint as Exhibit “A”, for the purchase of all of the daily production of crude oil [935]*935lying outside the areas then subject to the terms of a certain Unit Plan Contract and made available for disposition by the Navy from Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 1, known .as the “Elk Hills Reserve”, for a five-year period. Mohawk has been purchasing approximately 600 barrels of crude oil per day under the terms of said contract. The contract expires by its terms after the close of business on May 14, 1975.

7. The Armed Forces Act, 10 U.S.C., Chapter 641, § 7421 et seq., grants to the Secretary of the Navy the power and the duty to conserve and maintain certain reserves of crude oil and gas, and to regulate the production and use thereof as a national resource. Section 7430 provides that any sales of such oil and gas shall be made at public sale to the highest qualified bidder.

8. The Emergency Petroleum Allocation Act of 1973, 15 U.S.C. § 751 et seq., grants to the President the emergency power to allocate petroleum products and to regulate the price of such products. The powers so granted were delegated by the President to the Federal Energy Office (“FEO”) and thereafter, so far as pertinent herein, to FEA. FEO adopted a price regulation relating to petroleum products on December 27, 1973 and republished the same on January 15, 1974, 10 C.F.R. Part 212. Accompanying mandatory allocation regulations provided that all supplier/purchase relationships in effect on December 1, 1973 must remain in effect for the duration of the program, 10 C.F.R. § 211.63. On April 2, 1974, following a public rule-making proceeding FEO removed a preexisting exemption for Federal, State and local governments and provided that all government agencies, including all Federal departments, agencies or other instrumentalities were subject to the price regulation, 10 C.F.R. § 212.52, 39 Fed.Reg. 12252. Such regulations, as so amended, remain in full force and effect.

9. At some time following the adoption of such mandatory allocation and price regulation the Navy commenced to assert that the Emergency Petroleum Allocation Act, and regulations pursuant thereto, did not apply to sales from any of its reserves, while at the same time the FEO and the FEA have asserted to the contrary. Until recently the Navy has nevertheless offered to and now has continued to supply Mohawk at FEA-controlled prices.

10. On or about February 28, 1975 the Navy invited bids for the purchase of crude oil from the Elk Hills Reserve, including the oil currently under contract to Mohawk. The Navy now intends to award the contract for the purchase of said oil, from and after May 14, 1975, to a company other than Mohawk, which company has bid higher than the prices permitted by the mandatory price regulation of FEA. If such an award is made, Mohawk will be unable to obtain a similar quantity of price-controlled oil from any other source, and will either be required to operate its refinery below capacity or purchase an equivalent supply at a non-controlled price. Mohawk will be unable to recoup the loss so occasioned, and will suffer irreparable injury.

11. There is no evidence that Congress intended to exempt sales of crude oil from the. Naval Reserves from the regulations adopted under the Emergency Petroleum Allocation Act of 1973 and the Court finds that no such exemption was intended.

12.

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Related

§ 5001
10 U.S.C. § 5001
§ 7430
10 U.S.C. § 7430(b)
§ 751
15 U.S.C. § 751
Federal question
28 U.S.C. § 1331
Venue generally
28 U.S.C. § 1391(c)

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Bluebook (online)
395 F. Supp. 933, 1975 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12172, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mohawk-petroleum-corp-v-department-of-the-navy-cacd-1975.