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Commitments And Contingencies
 12 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2020
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]  
Commitments And Contingencies Commitments and Contingencies
Environmental Matters
The Company is subject to various federal, state and local laws and regulations relating to the protection of the environment. The Company has established procedures for the ongoing evaluation of its operations to identify potential environmental exposures and to comply with regulatory requirements.
It is the Company’s policy to accrue estimated environmental clean-up costs (investigation and remediation) when such amounts can reasonably be estimated and it is probable that the Company will be required to incur such costs. At September 30, 2020, the Company has estimated its remaining clean-up costs related to former manufactured gas plant sites will be approximately $6.4 million, which includes a $3.4 million estimated minimum liability to remediate a former manufactured gas plant site located in New York.  In March 2018, the NYDEC issued a Record of Decision for this New York site and the minimum liability reflects the remedy selected in the Record of Decision. The Company's liability for such clean-up costs has been recorded in Other Deferred Credits on the Consolidated Balance Sheet at September 30, 2020. The Company expects to recover its environmental clean-up costs through rate recovery over a period of approximately 2 years and the Company is currently not aware of any material additional exposure to environmental liabilities. However, changes in environmental laws and regulations, new information or other factors could have an adverse financial impact on the Company.
Northern Access Project
On February 3, 2017, Supply Corporation and Empire received FERC approval of the Northern Access project described herein. Shortly thereafter, the NYDEC issued a Notice of Denial of the federal Clean Water Act Section 401 Water Quality Certification and other state stream and wetland permits for the New York portion of the project (the Water Quality Certification for the Pennsylvania portion of the project was received in January of 2017). The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (the “Second Circuit Court of Appeals”) held in the Company’s favor in its appeal of this decision, vacating the NYDEC denial and remanding to the NYDEC. The NYDEC subsequently issued a second denial, which the Company has appealed to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. The court has held this appeal in abeyance pending the outcome of the FERC waiver appeal, described below. While the Company’s initial appeal was pending before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, the FERC issued an Order finding that the NYDEC exceeded the statutory time frame to take action under the Clean Water Act and, therefore, waived its opportunity to approve or deny the Water Quality Certification. FERC denied rehearing requests associated with its Order and FERC's decisions have been appealed and are pending in a separate action before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. In addition, in the Company's state court litigation challenging the NYDEC's actions with regard to various state permits, the New York State Supreme Court issued a decision finding these permits to be preempted. The Company remains committed to the project.
Other
The Company, in its Utility segment and Exploration and Production segment, has entered into contractual commitments in the ordinary course of business, including commitments to purchase gas, transportation, and storage service to meet customer gas supply needs. The future gas purchase, transportation and storage contract commitments during the next five years and thereafter are as follows: $181.9 million in 2021, $111.3 million in 2022, $120.9 million in 2023, $129.3 million in 2024, $146.3 million in 2025 and $1,128.2 million thereafter. Gas prices within the gas purchase contracts are variable based on NYMEX prices adjusted for basis. In the Utility segment, these costs are subject to state commission review, and are being recovered in customer rates. Management believes that, to the extent any stranded pipeline costs are generated
by the unbundling of services in the Utility segment’s service territory, such costs will be recoverable from customers.
The Company, in its Pipeline and Storage segment, Gathering segment and Utility segment, has entered into several contractual commitments associated with various pipeline, compressor and gathering system modernization and expansion projects. As of September 30, 2020, the future contractual commitments related to the system modernization and expansion projects are $98.3 million in 2021, $6.4 million in 2022, $3.4 million in 2023, $3.3 million in 2024, $3.3 million in 2025 and $10.3 million thereafter.
The Company, in its Exploration and Production segment, has entered into contractual obligations to support its development activities and operations in Pennsylvania and California, including hydraulic fracturing and other well completion services, well tending services, well workover activities, tubing and casing, production equipment, contracts for drilling rig services and fuel purchases for steam generation. The future contractual commitments are $109.3 million in 2021, $15.2 million in 2022 and $0.7 million in 2023. There are no contractual commitments extending beyond 2023.
The Company is involved in other litigation arising in the normal course of business. In addition to the regulatory matters discussed in Note F — Regulatory Matters, the Company is involved in other regulatory matters arising in the normal course of business. These other litigation and regulatory matters may include, for example, negligence claims and tax, regulatory or other governmental audits, inspections, investigations and other proceedings. These matters may involve state and federal taxes, safety, compliance with regulations, rate base, cost of service and purchased gas cost issues, among other things. While these other matters arising in the normal course of business could have a material effect on earnings and cash flows in the period in which they are resolved, an estimate of the possible loss or range of loss, if any, cannot be made at this time.