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ENVIRONMENTAL LIABILITIES AND EXPENDITURES
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2025
Environmental Remediation Obligations [Abstract]  
ENVIRONMENTAL LIABILITIES AND EXPENDITURES
NOTE 8 - ENVIRONMENTAL LIABILITIES AND EXPENDITURES

Occidental and its subsidiaries and their respective operations are subject to stringent federal, regional, state, provincial, tribal, local and international laws and regulations related to improving or maintaining environmental quality. The laws that require or address environmental remediation, including CERCLA and similar federal, regional, state, provincial, tribal, local and international laws, may apply retroactively and regardless of fault, the legality of the original activities or the current ownership or control of sites. Occidental or certain of its subsidiaries participate in or actively monitor a range of remedial activities and government or private proceedings under these laws with respect to alleged past practices at Third-Party, Currently Operated, and Closed or Non-Operated Sites, which categories may include NPL Sites. Remedial activities may include one or more of the following: investigation involving sampling, modeling, risk assessment or monitoring; clean-up measures including removal, treatment or disposal; or operation and maintenance of remedial systems. The environmental proceedings seek funding or performance of remediation and, in some cases, compensation for alleged property damage, natural resource damages, punitive damages, civil penalties, injunctive relief and government oversight costs.

ENVIRONMENTAL REMEDIATION
As of March 31, 2025, certain Occidental subsidiaries participated in or monitored remedial activities or proceedings at 157 sites. The following table presents the current and non-current environmental remediation liabilities of such subsidiaries on a consolidated basis as of March 31, 2025. The current portion of $150 million is included in accrued liabilities and the remainder of $1.8 billion is included in other liabilities.
These environmental remediation sites are grouped into NPL Sites and the following three categories of non-NPL Sites—Third-Party Sites, Currently Operated Sites and Closed or Non-Operated Sites.

millions, except number of sites Number of SitesRemediation Balance
NPL Sites32 $1,371 
Third-Party Sites62 196 
Currently Operated Sites12 86 
Closed or Non-Operated Sites51 248 
Total157 $1,901 

As of March 31, 2025, environmental remediation liabilities of Occidental subsidiaries exceeded $10 million each at 17 of the 157 sites described above, and 87 of the sites had liabilities from $0 to $1 million each.
Occidental believes its range of reasonably possible additional losses of its subsidiaries beyond those amounts currently recorded for environmental remediation for the 157 environmental sites in the table above could be up to $1.9 billion. The status of Occidental's involvement with the sites and related significant assumptions have not changed materially since December 31, 2024.

DIAMOND ALKALI SUPERFUND SITE
The EPA has organized the DASS into four OUs for evaluating, selecting and implementing remediation under CERCLA. OxyChem’s current activities in each OU are summarized below, many of which are performed on OxyChem’s behalf by Glenn Springs Holdings, Inc.
OU1 – OxyChem currently performs maintenance and monitoring for the interim remedy of OU1 pursuant to a 1990 Consent Decree. In January 2025, the EPA issued a ROD for the final remedy of OU1 that provides for optimized containment for which it estimated a cost of $16 million.
OU2 – The Lower 8.3 Miles of the Lower Passaic River: In March 2016, the EPA issued a ROD specifying remedial actions required for OU2. During the third quarter of 2016, OxyChem and the EPA entered into an AOC to complete the design of the remedy selected in the ROD. In May 2024, the EPA approved OxyChem's remedial design for OU2. In June 2024, the EPA notified OxyChem that the work required by the AOC has been fully performed in accordance with its terms. The EPA has estimated the cost to remediate OU2 to be approximately $1.4 billion.
OU3 – Newark Bay Study Area, including Newark Bay and portions of the Hackensack River, Arthur Kill, and Kill van Kull: A remedial investigation and feasibility study of OU3 was launched pursuant to a 2004 AOC which was amended in 2010. OxyChem is currently performing feasibility study activities in OU3.
OU4 – The 17-mile Lower Passaic River Study Area, comprising OU2 and the Upper 9 Miles of the Lower Passaic River: In September 2021, the EPA issued a ROD selecting an interim remedy for the portion of OU4 that excludes OU2 and is located upstream from the Lister Avenue Plant site for which OxyChem inherited legal responsibility. In March 2023, the EPA
issued a Unilateral Administrative Order in which it directed and ordered OxyChem to design the EPA’s selected interim remedy for OU4. The EPA has estimated the cost to remediate OU4 to be approximately $440 million.
Natural Resource Trustees – In addition to the activities of the EPA and OxyChem in the OUs described above, federal and state natural resource trustees are assessing natural resources in the Lower Passaic River and Greater Newark Bay to evaluate potential claims for natural resource damages.

OTHER INFORMATION
For the DASS, OxyChem has accrued a reserve relating to its estimated allocable share of remediation costs that it believes are probable and reasonably estimable. The reserve includes the cost to perform: the maintenance and monitoring required in the OU1 Consent Decree and the remedial investigation and feasibility study required in OU3 (Newark Bay); and a substantial portion of the estimated costs to design and implement the remedies selected in the OU2 ROD and AOC and the OU4 ROD and OU4 Unilateral Administrative Order based upon a December 2024 order of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey approving the proposed settlement and Amended Consent Decree the EPA entered into with 82 potentially responsible parties.
OxyChem’s accrued environmental remediation reserve does not reflect the potential for additional remediation costs or natural resource damages for the DASS that OxyChem believes are not reasonably estimable. OxyChem’s ultimate liability at the DASS may be higher or lower than the reserved amount and the reasonably possible additional losses, and is subject to final design plans, further action by the EPA and natural resource trustees, and the resolution of OxyChem's allocable share with other potentially responsible parties, among other factors.
OxyChem continues to evaluate the estimated costs currently recorded for remediation at the DASS as well as the range of reasonably possible additional losses beyond those amounts currently recorded. Given the complexity and extent of the remediation efforts, estimates of the remediation costs may increase or decrease over time as new information becomes available.