ENVIRONMENTAL REMEDIATION LIABILITIES

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2020

Environmental Remediation Obligations [Abstract]

ENVIRONMENTAL REMEDIATION LIABILITIES

ENVIRONMENTAL REMEDIATION LIABILITIES

Various federal and state environmental laws in the states in which we operate place liability for environmental contamination on the current and former owners of real estate on which contamination is discovered. These laws are often a source of “strict liability,” meaning that an owner or operator need not necessarily have caused, or even been aware of, the release of hazardous substances. Similarly, there are certain environmental laws that allow state, federal, and tribal trustees (collectively, the “Trustees”) to bring suit against property owners to recover damage for injuries to natural resources. Like the liability that attaches to current property owners in the cleanup context, liability for natural resource damages (“NRD”) can attach to a property simply because an injury to natural resources resulted from releases of hazardous substances on the owner’s property, regardless of culpability for the release.

In connection to the merger with Pope Resources, we assumed ownership of certain real estate in Port Gamble, Washington where hazardous substances had previously been discovered, requiring environmental remediation under these laws. Prior to the merger, Pope Resources had completed required remediation on the Port Gamble Bay, performed remedial investigation and drafted a cleanup action plan for the Port Gamble millsite, and started discussions relating to alleged natural resource damages.

Since completing the merger with Pope Resources, we have made $0.2 million in payments associated with our environmental remediation efforts. As of September 30, 2020, we have accrued $11.7 million for environmental remediation, which represents our current estimate of the fair value of remaining cleanup cost and most likely outcome to various contingencies. These estimates were based on assumptions that we believe to be reasonable; however, actual results may differ from these estimates. See Note 2 - Merger with Pope Resources for information regarding our preliminary estimates of fair value. It is expected that the millsite cleanup and NRD restoration will occur over the next two to three years, while the monitoring of the Port Gamble Bay, millsite and landfills containing dredged and excavated contaminated sediments will continue for an additional 10 to 15 years. The NRD costs might change as the scope of the restoration projects become more clearly defined. It is reasonably possible that these components of the liability may increase as the project progresses. Management continues to monitor the Port Gamble cleanup process and will make adjustments as needed. Should any future circumstances result in a change to the estimated cost of the project, we will record an appropriate adjustment to the liability in the period it becomes known and when we can reasonably estimate the amount. For further information on the timing and amount of future payments related to our environmental remediation liabilities, see Note 9 - Commitments.