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Commitments and Contingencies | 3 Months Ended
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Mar. 31, 2025
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract] |
Commitments and Contingencies | 5. Commitments and Contingencies Outstanding Natural Gas Purchase Commitments – Certain of our natural gas contracts qualify as normal purchases under U.S. GAAP and thus are not financial instruments for which we mark-to-market. At March 31, 2025, these contracts included volume purchase commitments with fixed prices of approximatel y 0.5 million MMBtus of natural gas that cover a period from April 2025 through June 2025. The weighted-average price of the natural gas covered by these contracts was $3.61 per MMBtu, for a total of $1.9 million. Based on strip prices at period end, the weighted-average market price of the fixed contracts was $3.61 per MMBtu for a total of $1.9 million. Legal Matters - Following is a summary of certain legal matters involving the Company: A. Environmental Matters Our facilities and operations are subject to numerous federal, state and local environmental laws and to other laws regarding health and safety matters (collectively, the “Environmental and Health Laws”), many of which provide for certain performance obligations, substantial fines and criminal sanctions for violations. Certain Environmental and Health Laws impose strict liability as well as joint and several liability for costs required to remediate and restore sites where hazardous substances, hydrocarbons or solid wastes have been stored or released. We may be required to remediate contaminated properties currently or formerly owned or operated by us or facilities of third parties that received waste generated by our operations regardless of whether such contamination resulted from the conduct of others or from consequences of our own actions that were in compliance with all applicable laws at the time those actions were taken. In addition, claims for damages to persons or property, including natural resources, may result from the environmental, health and safety effects of our operations. There can be no assurance that we will not incur material costs or liabilities in complying with such laws or in paying fines or penalties for violation of such laws. Our insurance may not cover all environmental risks and costs or may not provide sufficient coverage if an environmental claim is made against us. The Environmental and Health Laws and related enforcement policies have in the past resulted and could in the future result, in significant compliance expenses, cleanup costs (for our sites or third-party sites where our wastes were disposed of), penalties or other liabilities relating to the handling, manufacture, use, emission, discharge or disposal of hazardous or toxic materials at or from our facilities or the use or disposal of certain of its chemical products. Further, a number of our facilities are dependent on environmental permits to operate, the loss or modification of which could have a material adverse effect on their operations and our financial condition. Historically, we have incurred significant capital expenditures in order to comply with the Environmental and Health Laws and significant capital expenditures are expected to be incurred in the future. We will also be obligated to manage certain discharge water outlets and monitor groundwater contaminants at our facilities should we discontinue the operations of a facility. As of March 31, 2025, our accrued liabilities for environmental matters totaled approximately $0.6 million relating primarily to the matters discussed below. Estimates of the most likely costs for our environmental matters are generally based on preliminary or completed assessment studies, preliminary results of studies, or our experience with other similar matters. It is reasonably possible that a change in the estimate of our liability could occur in the near term. 1. Discharge Water Matters Each of our manufacturing facilities generates process wastewater, which may include cooling tower and boiler water quality control streams, contact storm water and miscellaneous spills and leaks from process equipment. The process water discharge, storm-water runoff and miscellaneous spills and leaks are governed by various permits generally issued by the respective state environmental agencies as authorized and overseen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (the “EPA”). These permits limit the type and volume of effluents that can be discharged and control the method of such discharge. In 2017, the Company filed a Permit Renewal Application for its Non-Hazardous Injection Well Permit at the Pryor Facility. Although the Injection Well Permit expired in 2018, we continue to operate the injection well in accordance with an executed November 2023 Consent Order with the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality (“ODEQ”) that allows for the continued use of the injection well until a wastewater treatment process is designed, built and operational. The Company continues to work with the ODEQ under the terms of the Consent Order. We have identified and selected a wastewater treatment technology using biological processes that can and will treat the nitrogen-containing wastewater streams at our Pryor Facility. We are unable to estimate the costs related to the replacement of the disposal well at this time as we are in the early stages of design for the wastewater treatment process with a wastewater process design engineering firm. We have also commenced preliminary discussions with the ODEQ on permitting the treated wastewater discharges but have not received any confirmation from the ODEQ on their preliminary acceptance of our treated wastewater stream. In 2006, the Company entered into a Consent Administrative Order (“CAO”) that recognizes the presence of nitrate contamination in the shallow groundwater at our El Dorado Facility. The CAO required us to perform semi-annual groundwater monitoring, continue operation of a groundwater recovery system, submit a human health and ecological risk assessment and submit a remedial action plan. The risk assessment was submitted in 2007. In 2015, the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (“ADEQ”) stated that the El Dorado Facility was meeting the requirements of the CAO and should continue semi-annual monitoring. A CAO was signed in 2018, which required an Evaluation Report of the data and effectiveness of the groundwater remedy for nitrate contamination. During 2019, the Evaluation Report was submitted to the ADEQ and the ADEQ approved the report. In August 2023, the Company received a Notice of Violation (“NOV”) for wastewater discharges from our El Dorado Facility. We have been in discussions with the ADEQ about our response to the NOV and the potential for financial penalties associated with the NOV. As of the date of this report, the ADEQ has provided no written indication or details regarding the financial penalty. No liability has been established as of March 31, 2025, in connection with this ADEQ matter. 2. Other Environmental Matters In 2002, certain of our subsidiaries sold substantially all of their operating assets relating to a Kansas chemical facility (the “Hallowell Facility”) but retained ownership of the real property where the facility is located. Our subsidiary retained the obligation to be responsible for and perform the activities under, a previously executed consent order to investigate the surface and subsurface contamination at the real property, develop a corrective action strategy based on the investigation and implement such strategy. In addition, certain of our subsidiaries agreed to indemnify the buyer of such assets for these environmental matters. As the successor to a prior owner of the Hallowell Facility, Chevron Environmental Management Company (“Chevron”) has agreed in writing, within certain limitations, to pay and has been paying one-half of the costs of the investigation and interim measures relating to this matter as approved by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (the “KDHE”), subject to reallocation. During this process, our subsidiary and Chevron retained an environmental consultant that prepared and performed a corrective action study work plan as to the appropriate method to remediate the Hallowell Facility. During 2020, the KDHE selected a remedy of annual monitoring and the implementation of an Environmental Use Control (“EUC”). This remedy primarily relates to long-term surface and groundwater monitoring to track the natural decline in contamination and is subject to a periodic review with the KDHE. At this time there is no review scheduled. The final remedy, including the EUC, the finalization of the cost estimates and any required financial assurances remains under discussion with the KDHE. Pending the results from our discussions regarding the final remedy, we continue to accrue our allocable portion of costs primarily for the additional testing, monitoring and risk assessments that could be reasonably estimated, which amount is included in our accrued liabilities for environmental matters discussed above. The estimated amount is not discounted to its present value. As more information becomes available, our estimated accrual will be refined, as necessary. We received a NOV for ten findings identified from an inspection conducted by the EPA Region IV at our Cherokee Facility in late 2022. We provided written responses to each finding in the inspection report issued in connection with such inspection and to the Notice of Potential Violations and held direct communications with the EPA related to the matter. A meeting was held with the EPA in January 2024 to discuss the NOV and our subsequent responsive actions. During the meeting, the EPA proposed two alternatives for the penalties related to the violations. We accepted one of the proposed alternatives, which included a cash fine and an investment in a community project, for which we accrued an estimate as of December 31, 2023. B. Other Pending, Threatened or Settled Litigation In addition to the foregoing, we are also involved in various other claims and legal actions (including matters involving gain contingencies) in the ordinary course of our business. While it is possible that the actual claims results could differ from our estimates, after consultation with legal counsel, we believe that any such differences will not have a material effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

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