COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

The Company is a defendant in various lawsuits as a result of normal operations and in the ordinary course of business. Management believes the outcome of these lawsuits will not have a material effect on the financial position or results of operations.

The Company’s operations are subject to extensive federal, state, local and foreign laws and regulations relating to environmental matters. Certain environmental laws can impose joint and several liability for releases or threatened releases of hazardous substances upon certain statutorily defined parties regardless of fault or the lawfulness of the original activity or disposal. Hazardous substances and adverse environmental effects have been identified with respect to real property owned by the Company, and on adjacent parcels of real property.

In particular, the Elmira, NY manufacturing facility is located within the Kentucky Avenue Wellfield on the National Priorities List of hazardous waste sites designated for cleanup by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) because of groundwater contamination. The Kentucky Avenue Wellfield Site (the “Site”) encompasses an area which includes sections of the Town of Horseheads and the Village of Elmira Heights in Chemung County, NY. In February 2006, the Company received a Special Notice Concerning a Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study (“RI/FS”) for the Koppers Pond (the “Pond”) portion of the Site. The EPA documented the release and threatened release of hazardous substances into the environment at the Site, including releases into and in the vicinity of the Pond. The hazardous substances, including metals and polychlorinated biphenyls, have been detected in sediments in the Pond.

Until receipt of this Special Notice in February 2006, the Company had never been named as a potentially responsible party (“PRP”) at the Site nor had the Company received any requests for information from the EPA concerning the Site. Environmental sampling on the Company’s property within this Site under supervision of regulatory authorities had identified off-site sources for such groundwater contamination and sediment contamination in the Pond, and found no evidence that the Company’s operations or property have contributed or are contributing to the contamination. All appropriate insurance carriers have been notified, and the Company is actively cooperating with them, but whether coverage will be available has not yet been determined and possible insurance recovery cannot now be estimated with any degree of certainty.

A substantial portion of the Pond is located on the Company’s property. The Company, along with Beazer East, Inc., the Village of Horseheads, the Town of Horseheads, the County of Chemung, CBS Corporation and Toshiba America, Inc., (collectively, the "PRPs"), have agreed to voluntarily participate in the RI/FS by signing an Administrative Settlement Agreement and Order of Consent on September 29, 2006. On September 29, 2006, the Director of Emergency and Remedial Response Division of the EPA, Region II, approved and executed the Agreement on behalf of the EPA. The PRPs also signed a PRP Member Agreement, agreeing to share the cost of the RI/FS study on a per capita basis.

The EPA approved the RI/FS Work Plan in May of 2008. On September 7, 2011, the PRPs submitted the draft Remedial Investigation Report to the EPA and on January 10, 2013, the draft Feasibility Study was submitted to the EPA. The PRPs are preparing a revised draft feasibility study to update site information and to address issues raised by the EPA.

The draft Feasibility Study identified alternative remedial actions with estimated life-cycle costs ranging from $0.7 million to $3.4 million. The proposed revised draft feasibility study is identifying an estimated life-cycle range from $0.9 million to $3.7 million. The Company’s portion of the potential costs, based upon the proposed revised feasibility study, are estimated to range from $0.1 million to $0.5 million. Based on the current estimated costs of the various remedial alternatives now under consideration by the EPA, a reserve of $0.2 million has been recorded for the Company’s share of remediation expenses at the Pond as of December 31, 2014. This reserve is included in "Accrued expenses" in the Consolidated Balance Sheets.

Based upon information currently available, except as described in the preceding paragraphs, the Company does not have material liabilities for environmental remediation. Though the foregoing reflects the Company’s current assessment as it relates to environmental remediation obligations, it is possible that future remedial requirements or changes in the enforcement of existing laws and regulations, which are subject to extensive regulatory discretion, will result in material liabilities to the Company.

The Company leases space for some of the manufacturing, sales and service operations with lease terms up to 16 years and use certain office equipment and automobiles under lease agreements expiring at various dates. Rent expense under these leases totaled $3.0 million, $3.2 million and $3.0 million, during the years ended December 31, 2014, 2013, and 2012, respectively.

At December 31, 2014, future minimum payments under non-cancelable operating leases are as follows (in thousands):



Year	Amount
2015	$	2,356
2016	1,677
2017	1,228
2018	788
2019	386
Thereafter	101
Total	$	6,536

The Company has entered into written employment contracts with its executive officers. The current effective term of the employment agreements is one year and the agreements contain an automatic, successive one year extension unless either party provides the other with two months prior notice of termination. In the case of a change in control, as defined in the employment contracts, the term of each officer's employment will be automatically extended for a period of two years following the date of the change in control. These employment contracts also provide for severance payments in the event of specified termination of employment, the amount of which is increased upon certain termination events to the extent such events occur within twelve months following a change in control.