Energy Cooperative, Inc. v. United States Department of Energy

LARSON, Judge.

In this appeal we are asked to determine whether the district court erred by dismissing the complaint of Energy Cooperative, Inc. (ECI) on the ground that ECI had failed to exhaust its administrative remedies in a timely manner. ECI, a small refiner, filed its complaint in December, 1979, alleging the invalidity of the $.21 per barrel cost acquisition penalty which had been imposed on foreign crude oil under the Entitlements Program from 1976 through 1979. ECI’s primary contention was that the rule which imposed the penalty was promulgated without the required notice procedure.…