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Commitments and Contingencies
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2023
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]  
Commitments and Contingencies

NOTE 14. COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

At any given time, we are subject to claims and actions incidental to the operations of our business. Based on information currently available, we do not expect that any sums we may receive or have to pay in connection with any legal proceeding would have a materially adverse effect on our consolidated financial position, operating results or net cash flow.

ENVIRONMENTAL MATTER

Pursuant to the 2002 Asset Purchase Agreement under which Sappi Cloquet LLC (Sappi) purchased our Cloquet, Minnesota pulp and paper mill (the Plant), we agreed to indemnify Sappi from certain environmental liabilities accruing from the pre-sale operations of the Plant. In February 2021, we were notified by Sappi that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) contacted Sappi about the opportunity to participate with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) and the EPA in a voluntary federal sediment remediation program under the Great Lakes Legacy Act (GLLA) for a project in the St. Louis River Area of Concern, which runs from Cloquet, Minnesota to Lake Superior. The GLLA is a sediment remediation program administered by EPA that provides up to 65% federal funding for the remediation of contaminated sediments in the Great Lakes region. The GLLA program requires at least 35% cash or in-kind contributions from non-federal sponsors (NFS). The EPA’s invitation to Sappi made no demands on or claims against Sappi, nor have EPA or MPCA made any demands or claims against PotlatchDeltic.

The identified sediment remediation project at Thomson Reservoir is downstream from the Plant. The Plant was identified for potential partnership with EPA and MPCA on this project based on the Plant’s historic direct discharges of wastewater and leachate from the Plant’s landfill into the St. Louis River prior to the re-routing of the discharges in 1979 to a public wastewater treatment facility. After multiple discussions with the MPCA and completion of our extensive due diligence on this matter, we informed the MPCA in January 2023 that we were interested in voluntarily participating in the program, subject to an equitable division with the MPCA of the NFS share of the costs. In March 2023, we reached an agreement in principle with MPCA on the division of NFS share of costs.

We accrued $5.6 million at December 31, 2022, for our estimated contribution to the remediation project. The project is still pending EPA approval and, if approved, negotiation of a Project Agreement between the EPA, the MPCA, and us will be required. While it is reasonably possible that we may incur an additional liability as this project develops, we are unable to estimate at this time the amount of additional charges, if any, which may be required for this matter in the future.