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Commitments and Contingencies
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2019
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]  
Commitments and Contingencies Commitments and Contingencies
Litigation
In the ordinary conduct of our business, we are from time to time subject to lawsuits, investigations and claims, including environmental claims and employee-related matters. Although we cannot predict with certainty the ultimate resolution of lawsuits, investigations and claims asserted against us, including civil penalties or other enforcement actions, we do not believe that any currently pending legal proceeding or
proceedings to which we are a party will have a material adverse effect on our financial statements. Certain environmental matters that have or may result in penalties or assessments are discussed below in the "Environmental, Health and Safety" section of this Note.
One of our Alon subsidiaries was the defendant in a legal action related to an easement dispute arising from a purchase of property that occurred in October 2013, prior to the Delek/Alon Merger. In June 2019, the court found in favor of the plaintiffs and assessed damages against such subsidiary totaling $6.7 million, which is included as of September 30, 2019 in accrued expenses and other current liabilities on the accompanying condensed consolidated balance sheet, and which reflects a $5.7 million increase in the accrual recorded during the nine months ended September 30, 2019, none of which was recorded for the third quarter. Additionally, through September 30, 2019, we have incurred $1.2 million of related legal expenses, of which none and $1.1 million was incurred during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2019, respectively, and has been recorded in general and administrative expenses in the accompanying condensed consolidated statements of income.
As of September 30, 2019 and December 31, 2018, AltAir (one of the California Discontinued Entities) was the party to a lawsuit whereby the plaintiff alleged breach of contract relating to a supply agreement during the period prior to the Delek/Alon Merger. We recorded a contingent liability associated with this matter (the "Ten-Tex Litigation") totaling $5.0 million as part of the purchase price allocation, which was finalized in June 2018. In July 2019, we reached a settlement with the plaintiff, whereby we were obligated for $2.3 million of the judgment against AltAir plus expected legal fees of approximately $0.3 million. Related to this obligation, we reduced our litigation accrual by $2.4 million during the nine months ended September 30, 2019, which was recorded in discontinued operations. In August 2019, we reached an agreement with World Energy to offset amounts payable by Delek under our seller obligations for the Ten-Tex Litigation matter against the working capital settlement receivable, and to convert the net receivable into the World Energy Note Receivable . As a result, this obligation is no longer reflected in our liabilities on the condensed consolidated balance sheet as of September 30, 2019. See Note 7 for further discussion of these matters.
Self-insurance
Delek records a self-insurance accrual for workers’ compensation claims up to a $4.0 million deductible on a per accident basis, general liability claims up to $4.0 million on a per occurrence basis and medical claims for eligible full-time employees up to $0.3 million per covered individual per calendar year. We also record a self-insurance accrual for auto liability up to a $4.0 million deductible on a per accident basis.
We have umbrella liability insurance available to each of our segments in an amount determined reasonable by management.
Environmental, Health and Safety
We are subject to extensive federal, state and local environmental and safety laws and regulations enforced by various agencies, including the EPA, the United States Department of Transportation, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, as well as numerous state, regional and local environmental, safety and pipeline agencies. These laws and regulations govern the discharge of materials into the environment, waste management practices, pollution prevention measures and the composition of the fuels we produce, as well as the safe operation of our plants and pipelines and the safety of our workers and the public. Numerous permits or other authorizations are required under these laws and regulations for the operation of our refineries, renewable fuels facilities, terminals, pipelines, underground storage tanks, trucks, rail cars and related operations, and may be subject to revocation, modification and renewal.
These laws and permits raise potential exposure to future claims and lawsuits involving environmental and safety matters which could include soil and water contamination, air pollution, personal injury and property damage allegedly caused by substances which we manufactured, handled, used, released or disposed of, transported, or that relate to pre-existing conditions for which we have assumed responsibility. We believe that our current operations are in substantial compliance with existing environmental and safety requirements. However, there have been and will continue to be ongoing discussions about environmental and safety matters between us and federal and state authorities, including notices of violations, citations and other enforcement actions, some of which have resulted or may result in changes to operating procedures and in capital expenditures. While it is often difficult to quantify future environmental or safety related expenditures, we anticipate that continuing capital investments and changes in operating procedures will be required for the foreseeable future to comply with existing and new requirements, as well as evolving interpretations and more strict enforcement of existing laws and regulations.
The Big Spring refinery has been negotiating an agreement with the EPA for over 10 years under the EPA’s National Petroleum Refinery Initiative regarding alleged historical violations of the federal Clean Air Act related to emissions and emissions control equipment. A Consent Decree resolving these alleged historical violations for the Big Spring refinery was lodged with the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas on June 6, 2017. An amendment to the Consent Decree was agreed upon by Delek and the EPA/ United States Department of Justice (the "DOJ"), in late 2018 and was executed by Delek. The amended Consent Decree was lodged during the first quarter of 2019, and was entered by the Court on June 5, 2019. The civil penalty of $0.5 million was paid on June 18, 2019. Per the Consent Decree, the Company will be required to expend capital for pollution control equipment that may be significant over the next 10 years.
As of September 30, 2019, we have recorded an environmental liability of approximately $142.8 million, primarily related to the estimated probable costs of remediating or otherwise addressing certain environmental issues of a non-capital nature at our refineries, as well as terminals, some of which we no longer own. This liability includes estimated costs for ongoing investigation and remediation efforts, which were already being performed by the former operators of the refineries and terminals prior to our acquisition of those facilities, for known
contamination of soil and groundwater, as well as estimated costs for additional issues which have been identified subsequent to the acquisitions. Approximately $3.7 million of the total liability is expected to be expended over the next 12 months, with most of the balance expended by 2032, although some costs may extend up to 30 years. In the future, we could be required to extend the expected remediation period or undertake additional investigations of our refineries, pipelines and terminal facilities, which could result in the recognition of additional remediation liabilities.
Crude Oil and Other Releases
We have experienced several crude oil and other releases involving our assets, including five releases that occurred in 2019 and six releases that occurred in 2018. Cleanup operations and site maintenance and remediation efforts on these and other releases are at various stages of completion. The majority of the remediation efforts for these releases have been substantially completed or have received regulatory closure. Boom maintenance and confirmatory sampling is currently underway at some sites. We expect regulatory closure by the end of 2019 for some release sites that have not yet received it, with closure on a few remaining sites occurring in 2020.
Many of the releases have occurred on the SALA Gathering System. During the nine months ended September 30, 2019, we decommissioned certain sections of the SALA Gathering System in an effort to improve the safety and integrity of the system. The decommissioning of these sections was completed in August 2019. The decommissioning project did not have a material effect on the operational capabilities of the system.
On October 3, 2019, a finished product release involving one of our pipelines occurred near Sulphur Springs, Texas (the "Sulphur Springs Release"). Cleanup operations and site maintenance and remediation on this release are expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2019. We currently estimate the maintenance and remediation efforts to cost between $4.0 million and $6.0 million, excluding any fines or penalties assessed by regulatory agencies. We anticipate that we will incur certain fines or penalties but we cannot currently estimate those costs. No accrual is recorded for the Sulphur Springs Release as of September 30, 2019, as the release occurred subsequent to that date. We are evaluating whether there may be potential recoveries or indemnification of the costs incurred for the Sulphur Springs Release.
The DOJ, on behalf of the EPA, and the State of Arkansas, on behalf of the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality, have been pursuing an enforcement action against Delek Logistics with regard to potential violations of the Clean Water Act and certain state laws arising from the release of crude oil from a pumping facility at its Magnolia Station near the El Dorado Refinery ( the "Magnolia Release") since June 2015. On July 13, 2018, the DOJ and the State of Arkansas filed a civil action against two of Delek Logistics’ wholly-owned subsidiaries, Delek Logistics Operating LLC and SALA Gathering Systems LLC, in the United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas.
In December 2018, Delek, the United States and the state of Arkansas reached an agreement to settle the claims related to the Magnolia Release for $2.2 million and the claims against Delek Logistics were resolved and an additional demand for a compliance audit at the Magnolia terminal was abandoned pursuant to payment of monetary penalties and other relief. In July 2019, Delek signed and submitted to the DOJ, a consent decree (the "Magnolia Consent Decree") to settle the release, and on August 30, 2019, the Magnolia Consent Decree was lodged with the Court.  We expect the Magnolia Consent Decree to be finalized and to settle the payable in the fourth quarter of 2019. As of September 30, 2019, $2.2 million for the Magnolia Release is recorded in accounts payable in our condensed consolidated balance sheet.
Letters of Credit
As of September 30, 2019, we had in place letters of credit totaling approximately $293.5 million with various financial institutions securing obligations primarily with respect to our commodity purchases for the refining segment and certain of our insurance programs. There were no amounts drawn by beneficiaries of these letters of credit at September 30, 2019.