We are involved in litigation and various proceedings relating to environmental laws and regulations, product liability and other matters. Certain of these matters are discussed below. The ultimate resolution of these contingencies is subject to significant uncertainty and should we fail to prevail in any of these legal matters or should several of these legal matters be resolved against us in the same reporting period, these legal matters could, individually or in the aggregate, be material to the condensed consolidated financial statements.

Coal Tar Pitch Cases. Koppers Inc. is one of several defendants in lawsuits filed in two states in which the plaintiffs claim they suffered a variety of illnesses (including cancer) as a result of exposure to coal tar pitch sold by the defendants. There were 51 plaintiffs in 27 cases pending as of March 31, 2023 and as of December 31, 2022. As of March 31, 2023, there were 26 cases pending in the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, and one case pending in the Circuit Court of Knox County, Tennessee.

The plaintiffs in all 27 pending cases seek to recover compensatory damages. Plaintiffs in 24 of those cases also seek to recover punitive damages. The plaintiffs in the 26 cases filed in Pennsylvania seek unspecified damages in excess of the court’s minimum jurisdictional limit. The plaintiff in the Tennessee state court case seeks damages of $15.0 million. The other defendants in these lawsuits vary from case to case and include companies such as Beazer East, Inc. (“Beazer East”), Honeywell International Inc., Graftech International Holdings, Dow Chemical Company, UCAR Carbon Company, Inc., and SGL Carbon Corporation. Discovery is proceeding in these cases. No trial dates have been set in any of these cases.

We have not provided a reserve for the coal tar pitch lawsuits because, at this time, we cannot reasonably determine the probability of a loss, and the amount of loss, if any, cannot be reasonably estimated. The timing of resolution of these cases cannot be reasonably determined. Although Koppers Inc. is vigorously defending these cases, an unfavorable resolution of these matters may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, cash flows and results of operations.

We are subject to federal, state, local and foreign laws and regulations and potential liabilities relating to the protection of the environment and human health and safety including, among other things, the cleanup of contaminated sites, the treatment, storage and disposal of wastes, the discharge of effluent into waterways, the emission of substances into the air and various health and safety matters. We expect to incur substantial costs for ongoing compliance with such laws and regulations. We may also face governmental or third-party claims, or otherwise incur costs, relating to cleanup of, or for injuries resulting from, contamination at sites associated with past and present operations. We accrue for environmental liabilities when a determination can be made that a liability is probable and reasonably estimable.

Environmental and Other Liabilities Retained or Assumed by Others. We have agreements with former owners of certain of our operating locations under which the former owners retained, assumed and/or agreed to indemnify us against certain environmental and other liabilities. The most significant of these agreements was entered into at Koppers Inc.’s formation on December 29, 1988 (the “Acquisition”). Under the related asset purchase agreement between Koppers Inc. and Beazer East, subject to certain limitations, Beazer East retained the responsibility for and agreed to indemnify Koppers Inc. against certain liabilities, damages, losses and costs, including, with certain limited exceptions, liabilities under and costs to comply with environmental laws to the extent attributable to acts or omissions occurring prior to the Acquisition and liabilities related to products sold by Beazer East prior to the Acquisition (the “Indemnity”). Beazer Limited, the parent company of Beazer East, unconditionally guaranteed Beazer East’s performance of the Indemnity pursuant to a guarantee.

The Indemnity provides different mechanisms, subject to certain limitations, by which Beazer East is obligated to indemnify Koppers Inc. with regard to certain environmental, product and other liabilities and imposes certain conditions on Koppers Inc. before receiving such indemnification, including, in some cases, certain limitations regarding the time period as to which claims for indemnification can be brought. In July 2004, Koppers Inc. and Beazer East agreed to amend the environmental indemnification provisions of the December 29, 1988 asset purchase agreement to extend the indemnification period for pre-closing environmental liabilities, subject to the following paragraph, and agreed to share toxic tort litigation defense arising from any sites acquired from Beazer East.

Qualified expenditures under the Indemnity are not subject to a monetary limit. Qualified expenditures under the Indemnity include (i) environmental cleanup liabilities required by third parties, such as investigation, remediation and closure costs, relating to pre-December 29, 1988 (“Pre-Closing”) acts or omissions of Beazer East or its predecessors; (ii) environmental claims by third parties for personal injuries, property damages and natural resources damages relating to Pre-Closing acts or omissions of Beazer East or its predecessors; (iii) punitive damages for the acts or omissions of Beazer East and its predecessors without regard to the date of the alleged conduct and (iv) product liability claims for products sold by Beazer East or its predecessors without regard to the date of the alleged conduct. The indemnification period ended July 14, 2019 (the “Claim Deadline”) and Beazer East may now tender certain third-party claims described in sections (i) and (ii) above to Koppers Inc. However, to the extent the third-party claims described in sections (i) and (ii) above were tendered to Beazer East by the Claim Deadline, Beazer East will continue to be required to pay the costs arising from such claims under the Indemnity. Furthermore, the Claim Deadline did not change the provisions of the Indemnity with respect to indemnification for non-environmental claims, such as product liability claims, which claims may continue to be tendered by Koppers Inc. to Beazer East.

The Indemnity provides for the resolution of issues between Koppers Inc. and Beazer East by an arbitrator on an expedited basis upon the request of either party. The arbitrator could be asked, among other things, to make a determination regarding the allocation of environmental responsibilities between Koppers Inc. and Beazer East. Arbitration decisions under the Indemnity are final and binding on the parties.

Contamination has been identified at most manufacturing and other sites of our subsidiaries. One site currently owned and operated by Koppers Inc. in the United States is listed on the National Priorities List promulgated under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, as amended (“CERCLA”). Currently, at the properties acquired from Beazer East (which includes the National Priorities List site and all but one of the sites permitted under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (“RCRA”)), a significant portion of all investigative, cleanup and closure activities are being conducted and paid for by Beazer East pursuant to the terms of the Indemnity. In addition, other of Koppers Inc.’s sites are or have been operated under RCRA and various other environmental permits, and remedial and closure activities are being conducted at some of these sites.

To date, the parties that retained, assumed and/or agreed to indemnify us against the liabilities referred to above, including Beazer East, have performed their obligations in all material respects. Periodically, issues have arisen between Koppers Inc. and Beazer East and/or other indemnitors that have been resolved without arbitration. Koppers Inc. and Beazer East engage in discussions from time to time that involve, among other things, the allocation of environmental costs related to certain operating and closed facilities.

If for any reason (including disputed coverage or financial incapability) one or more of such parties fail to perform their obligations and we are held liable for or otherwise required to pay all or part of such liabilities without reimbursement, the imposition of such liabilities on us could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, cash flows and results of operations. Furthermore, we could be required to record a contingent liability on our balance sheet with respect to such matters, which could result in a negative impact to our business, financial condition, cash flows and results of operations.

Domestic Environmental Matters. Koppers Inc. has been named as one of the potentially responsible parties (“PRPs”) at the Portland Harbor CERCLA site located on the Willamette River in Oregon. Koppers Inc. operated a coal tar pitch terminal near the site. Koppers Inc. has responded to an EPA information request and has executed a PRP agreement which outlines a private process to develop an allocation of past and future costs among more than 80 parties to the site. Koppers Inc. believes it is a de minimis contributor at the site.

The EPA issued its Record of Decision (“ROD”) in January 2017 for the Portland Harbor CERCLA site. The selected remedy includes a combination of sediment removal, capping, enhanced and monitored natural recovery and riverbank improvements. The ROD does not determine who is responsible for remediation costs. At that time, the net present value and undiscounted costs of the selected remedy as estimated in the ROD were approximately $1.1 billion and $1.7 billion, respectively. These costs are likely to increase given recent submissions to EPA regarding remedy design and because the remedy will not be implemented for several years. Responsibility for implementing and funding that work is yet to be determined. The funding of that work amongst the PRPs is the subject of a separate private allocation process which is ongoing.

Additionally, Koppers Inc. is involved in two separate matters involving natural resource damages at the Portland Harbor site. One matter involves claims by the trustees to recover damages based upon an assessment of damages to natural resources caused by the releases of hazardous substances to the Willamette River. The assessment serves as the foundation to estimate liabilities for settlements of natural resource damages claims or litigation to recover from those who do not settle with the trustee groups. Koppers Inc. has been engaged in a process to resolve its natural resource damage liabilities for the assessment area. A second matter involves a lawsuit filed in January 2017 by the Yakama Nation in Oregon federal court. Yakama Nation seeks recovery for response costs and the costs of assessing injury to natural resources in waterways beyond the current assessment area. Following the most recent court rulings, the Yakama Nation case has been stayed pending completion of the private allocation process for the Portland Harbor CERCLA site.

In September 2009, Koppers Inc. received a general notice letter stating that it may be a PRP at the Newark Bay CERCLA site. In January 2010, Koppers Inc. submitted a response to the general notice letter asserting that Koppers Inc. is a de minimis party at this site.

We have accrued the estimated costs of participating in the PRP group at the Portland Harbor and Newark Bay CERCLA sites and estimated de minimis contributor settlement amounts at the sites totaling $4.0 million as of March 31, 2023. The actual cost could be materially higher as there has not been a determination of how those costs will be allocated among the PRPs at the sites. Accordingly, an unfavorable resolution of these matters may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, cash flows and results of operations.

There are two plant sites related to the Performance Chemicals business and one plant site related to the Utility and Industrial Products business in the United States where we have recorded environmental remediation liabilities for soil and groundwater contamination which occurred prior to our acquisition of the businesses. As of March 31, 2023, our estimated environmental remediation liability for these acquired sites totals $3.9 million.

Foreign Environmental Matters. There is one plant site related to the Performance Chemicals business located in Australia where we have recorded an environmental remediation liability for soil and groundwater contamination which occurred prior to the acquisition of the business. As of March 31, 2023, our estimated environmental remediation liability for the acquired site totals $1.3 million.

Environmental Reserves Rollforward. The following table reflects changes in the accrual for environmental remediation. A total of $2.5 million and $2.5 million are classified as current liabilities as of March 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022:


	Period ended
	March 31, 2023			December 31, 2022
(Dollars in millions)
Balance at beginning of year	$	10.9		$	10.7
Expense		0.0			1.6
Cash expenditures		(0.1	)		(1.1	)
Currency translation		0.0			(0.3	)
Balance at end of year	$	10.8		$	10.9