Eastern States Petroleum & Chemical Corp. v. Seaton

• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Columbia
• Writing for the Court: Elmer E. Batzell, Washington, D. C., for plaintiff
• Citation: Eastern States Petroleum & Chemical Corp. v. Seaton, 163 F. Supp. 797 (D. D.C. 1958)
• Decision Date: 08 July 1958
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 1621-58.
• Parties: EASTERN STATES PETROLEUM & CHEMICAL CORP., Plaintiff, v. Fred A. SEATON, Individually and as Secretary of the Interior, et al., Defendants.

163 F. Supp. 797

EASTERN STATES PETROLEUM & CHEMICAL CORP., Plaintiff, v. Fred A. SEATON, Individually and as Secretary of the Interior, et al., Defendants.

Civ. A. No. 1621-58.

United States District Court District of Columbia.

July 8, 1958.

Elmer E. Batzell, Washington, D. C., for plaintiff.

Oliver Gasch, U. S. Atty., and E. Riley Casey, Jr., Asst. U. S. Atty., Washington, D. C., for defendants.

HOLTZOFF, District Judge.

This is an action brought by a corporation engaged in the business of refining crude oil and selling petroleum products, against the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of Defense, the Under-Secretary of the Interior, and the Administrator of the Voluntary Oil Import Program of the Department of the Interior. The purpose of this action is to secure a declaratory judgment and a final injunction to declare null, void, and illegal the so-called Voluntary Oil Import Program promulgated by the Government under which, substantially, importations of crude oil into the United States are limited and persons who fail to comply with the limitations are restricted from selling their products to the United States. The matter is before the Court at this time on a motion for preliminary injunction.

The Act of March 3, 1933, 47 Stat. 1520, 41 U.S.C.A., § 10a, popularly known as the Buy American Act, provides in its pertinent portions that unless the head of a Government department concerned shall determine it to be inconsistent with the public interest or the cost to be unreasonable, only such unmanufactured articles, materials, and supplies as have been mined or produced in the United States shall be acquired for public use. There are certain exceptions in the Act, which are not material for the purposes of this discussion.

On March 27, 1958, the President of the United States issued Executive Order Number 10761, U.S.Code Congressional and Administrative News 1958, No. 5, p. 587, relating to imports of oil into the United States and purchases of oil by the Government. Section 1 of the order defines "complying petroleum product" as crude petroleum of foreign origin or any petroleum products refined in the United States, in whole or in part from crude petroleum of foreign origin, all of which have been or will be imported by a firm which during the period of contract performance and for the three months preceding the month in which a bid is submitted to a Government department or agency has imported crude petroleum in compliance with the Voluntary Oil Import Program.

Section 2 of the order requests the heads of all executive departments and agencies to apply the provisions of the Buy American Act to petroleum products, except under certain circumstances which are not material to this discussion.

Section 3 requires every Government contract for the purchase of imported crude petroleum or petroleum products refined in the United States and derived in whole or in part from imported crude petroleum, to contain the following provision: "The contractor agrees that during the...