COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2022

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

Environmental Matters

Set forth below are descriptions of contingencies related to environmental matters that may impact the Evergy Companies' operations or their financial results. Management's assessment of these contingencies, which are based on federal and state statutes and regulations, and regulatory agency and judicial interpretations and actions, has evolved over time. These laws, regulations, interpretations and actions can also change, restrict or otherwise impact the Evergy Companies' operations or financial results. The failure to comply with these laws, regulations, interpretations and actions could result in the assessment of administrative, civil and criminal penalties and the imposition of remedial requirements. The Evergy Companies believe that all of their operations are in substantial compliance with current federal, state and local environmental standards.

There are a variety of final and proposed laws and regulations that could have a material adverse effect on the Evergy Companies' operations and consolidated financial results. Due in part to the complex nature of environmental laws and regulations, the Evergy Companies are unable to assess the impact of potential changes that may develop with respect to the environmental contingencies described below.

Clean Air Act - Startup, Shutdown and Malfunction (SSM) Regulation

In 2015, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a final rule addressing how state implementation plans (SIPs) can treat excess emissions during SSM events. This rule was referred to as the 2015 SIP Call Rule. The rule required 36 states to submit SIP revisions by November 2016 to remove certain exemptions and other discretionary enforcement provisions that apply to excess emissions during SSM events. Legal challenges ensued and the case was eventually placed in abeyance. In December 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (D.C. Circuit) restarted the litigation and oral arguments were held in March 2022. An additional case was also taking place in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California (District Court of Northern California) and in June 2022, the District Court of Northern California entered a final consent decree establishing deadlines for the EPA to take final action on SIP revisions that were submitted in response to the 2015 SIP Call Rule. Deadlines for 26 states and air districts, including Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma, are listed in the final consent decree. Final action from the EPA could result in required SIP revisions in Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri which could have a material impact on the Evergy Companies. If the D.C. Circuit overturns the EPA's 2015 SIP Call Rule, the final consent decree's deadlines will no longer be valid.

Ozone Interstate Transport State Implementation Plans (ITSIP)

In 2015, the EPA lowered the Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) from 75 ppb to 70 ppb. Impacted states were required to submit ITSIPs in 2018 to comply with the "Good Neighbor Provisions" of the Clean Air Act (CAA). The EPA did not act on these ITSIP submissions and was challenged in a court filing in May 2021 to address them. In February 2022, the EPA published proposed disapprovals of ITSIPs for nineteen states including Missouri and Oklahoma. In April 2022, the EPA published a final approval of the Kansas ITSIP in the Federal Register. In June 2022, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) announced they intended to submit a supplemental ITSIP to the EPA and placed the document on public notice until August 2022. MDNR anticipates submitting the supplemental ITSIP to the EPA in the fourth quarter of 2022.

Ozone Interstate Transport Federal Implementation Plans (ITFIP)

In April 2022, the EPA published in the Federal Register the proposed ITFIP to resolve outstanding "Good Neighbor" obligations with respect to the 2015 Ozone NAAQS for 26 states including Missouri and Oklahoma. This ITFIP would establish a revised Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) ozone season nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions trading program for electric generating units (EGUs), and limit ozone season NOx emissions from certain industrial stationary sources. The proposed rule would also establish a new daily backstop NOx emissions rate limit for applicable coal-fired units larger than 100 MW, as well as unit-specific NOx emission rate limits for certain industrial emission units, and would feature "dynamic" adjustments of emission budgets for EGUs beginning with ozone season 2025. The proposed ITFIP includes reductions to the state ozone season NOx budgets for Missouri and Oklahoma beginning in 2023 with additional reductions in future years. The Evergy Companies provided formal comments as part of the rulemaking process. The EPA intends to issue final ITFIP's for applicable states in March 2023. The EPA is also in the process of reconsidering its December 2020 decisions to retain the Ozone

NAAQS at the level set in 2015 and the annual and 24-hour PM2.5 NAAQS at the levels set in 2012. Due to uncertainty regarding the proposed ITFIP and potential lowering of the ozone and PM2.5 NAAQS, the Evergy Companies are unable to accurately assess the impacts of these potential EPA actions on their operations or consolidated financial results, but the cost to comply with the ITFIP and/or a lower future ozone or PM2.5 NAAQS could be material.

Regional Haze Rule

In 1999, the EPA finalized the Regional Haze Rule which aims to restore national parks and wilderness areas to pristine conditions. The rule requires states in coordination with the EPA, the National Park Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Forest Service, and other interested parties to develop and implement air quality protection plans to reduce the pollution that causes visibility impairment. There are 156 "Class I" areas across the U.S. that must be restored to pristine conditions by the year 2064. There are no Class I areas in Kansas, whereas Missouri has two: the Hercules-Glades Wilderness Area and the Mingo Wilderness Area. States must submit revisions to their Regional Haze Rule SIPs every ten years and the first round was due in 2007. For the second ten-year implementation period, the EPA issued a final rule revision in 2017 that allowed states to submit their SIP revisions by July 31, 2021. The Evergy Companies have been in contact with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) and MDNR as they worked to draft their SIP revisions. The Missouri SIP revision does not require any additional reductions from the Evergy Companies' generating units in the state. MDNR submitted the Missouri SIP revision to the EPA in August 2022, however, they failed to do so by the EPA's revised submittal deadline of August 15, 2022. As a result, on August 30, 2022, the EPA published "finding of failure" with respect to Missouri and fourteen other states for failing to submit their Regional Haze SIP revisions by the applicable deadline. This finding of failure established a two-year deadline for the EPA to issue a Regional Haze federal implementation plan (FIP) for each state unless the state submits and the EPA approves a revised SIP that meets all applicable requirements before the EPA issues the FIP. The Kansas SIP revision was placed on public notice in June 2021 and requested no additional emission reductions by electric utilities based on the significant reductions that were achieved during the first implementation period. The EPA provided comments on the Kansas SIP revision in June 2021 that each state is statutorily required to conduct a "four-factor analysis" on at least two sources within the state to help determine if further emission reductions are necessary. The EPA also stated it would be difficult to approve the Kansas SIP revision if at least two four-factor analyses are not conducted on Kansas emission sources. KDHE submitted the Kansas SIP revision in July 2021. If a Kansas generating unit of the Evergy Companies is selected for analysis, the possibility exists that the state or EPA, through a revised SIP or a FIP, could determine that additional operational or physical modifications are required on the generating unit to further reduce emissions. The overall cost of those modifications could be material to the Evergy Companies.

Greenhouse Gases

Burning coal and other fossil fuels releases carbon dioxide (CO2) and other gases referred to as greenhouse gases (GHG). Various regulations under the CAA limit CO2 and other GHG emissions, and in addition, other measures are being imposed or offered by individual states, municipalities and regional agreements with the goal of reducing GHG emissions.

In July 2019, the EPA published the final Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule in the Federal Register. This rule contained emission guidelines for GHG emissions from existing electric utility generating units (EGUs) and revisions to emission guideline implementing regulations. The rule defined the "best system of emission reduction" (BSER) for GHG emissions from existing coal-fired EGUs as on-site, heat-rate efficiency improvements. In conjunction with the finalization of the ACE rule, the EPA repealed its previously adopted Clean Power Plan (CPP) on the basis that the EPA had exceeded its statutory authority under CAA section 111(d) by defining BSER through generation shifting. A number of states and industry parties filed petitions for review in the D.C. Circuit, challenging the EPA's repeal of the CPP and its enactment of the ACE rule, and in January 2021, the D.C. Circuit issued a decision holding that CAA section 111(d) could be read in a manner that allows the EPA to define BSER as including generation shifting. The D.C. Circuit therefore vacated both the EPA's repeal of the CPP and its replacement of that rule with the ACE rule, and remanded them to the EPA for further consideration. In October 2021, the Supreme Court granted petitions for certiorari to review the D.C. Circuit decision. The Supreme Court issued its decision in June 2022, reversing the D.C. Circuit's decisions and holding that, absent specific authorization from Congress, the EPA lacks authority to define BSER through generation shifting. Given that the

Supreme Court found the CPP to be unlawful and that the deadlines established in the ACE rule have passed, neither rule is in effect following the Supreme Court's ruling. In June 2022, the EPA announced its intent to propose GHG regulations that would apply to EGUs by March 2023.

Due to uncertainty regarding the future of the EPA's GHG regulations, the Evergy Companies cannot determine the impacts on their operations or consolidated financial results, but the cost to comply with potential GHG rules could be material.

Water

The Evergy Companies discharge some of the water used in generation and other operations containing substances deemed to be pollutants. A November 2015 EPA rule applicable to steam-electric power generating plants establishes effluent limitations guidelines (ELG) and standards for wastewater discharges, including limits on the amount of toxic metals and other pollutants that can be discharged. Implementation timelines for this 2015 rule vary from 2018 to 2023. In April 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit (5th Circuit) issued a ruling that vacated and remanded portions of the original ELG rule. Due to this ruling, the EPA announced a plan in July 2021 to release a proposed rulemaking in the fall of 2022 to address the vacated limitations for legacy wastewater and landfill leachate. Future ELG modifications for the best available technology economically achievable for the discharge of legacy wastewater and landfill leachate are likely and could be material to the Evergy Companies.

In October 2020, the EPA published the final ELG reconsideration rule. This rule adjusts numeric limits for flue gas desulfurization (FGD) wastewater and adds a 10% volumetric purge limit for bottom ash transport water. The timeline for final FGD wastewater compliance is as soon as possible on or after one year following publication of the final rule in the Federal Register but no later than December 31, 2025. In August 2021, the EPA published notice in the Federal Register that it is initiating a supplemental rulemaking to revise the ELG regulations after completing review of the ELG reconsideration rule as a result of an executive order from President Biden. As part of the rulemaking process, the EPA will determine if more stringent limitations and standards are appropriate. The 2020 ELG reconsideration rule will remain in effect while the EPA undertakes this new rulemaking.

The Evergy Companies have reviewed the 2020 ELG reconsideration regulation, and the costs to comply with these changes are not expected to be material. However, the Evergy Companies cannot predict what revisions the EPA may make under its supplemental rulemaking to revise the ELG regulations, and compliance costs associated with any revisions could be material.

In August 2021, based on an order issued by the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona, which vacated and remanded the EPA's Navigable Waters Protection Rule (NWPR), which was promulgated in 2020, the EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced that they had halted implementation of the NWPR nationwide, and were interpreting "Waters of the United States" consistent with the regulatory regime that was in place prior to 2015. In December 2021, the EPA and the Department of the Army published a proposed rule that would formally repeal the NWPR and revise the definition of “Waters of the United States” to restore the definitions of "Waters of the United States" that were in place prior to 2015. A final rule was expected in August 2022 but has not been issued. The Evergy Companies have reviewed the proposed rule and the impact on their operations or consolidated financial results are not expected to be material. A second rulemaking is expected in the future which will replace the NWPR. The cost to comply with any future rulemaking that replaces the NWPR could be material to the Evergy Companies.

Regulation of Coal Combustion Residuals

In the course of operating their coal generation plants, the Evergy Companies produce coal combustion residuals (CCRs), including fly ash, gypsum and bottom ash. The EPA published a rule to regulate CCRs in April 2015 that requires additional CCR handling, processing and storage equipment and closure of certain ash disposal units. In January 2022, the EPA published proposed determinations for facilities that filed closure extensions for unlined or clay-lined CCR units. These proposed determinations include various interpretations of the CCR regulations and compliance expectations that may impact all owners of CCR units. These interpretations could require modified compliance plans such as different methods of CCR unit closure. Additionally, more stringent remediation requirements for units that are in corrective action or forced to go into corrective action are possible. In April 2022,

the Utility Solid Waste Activities Group (USWAG) and other interested parties filed similar petitions in the D.C. Circuit challenging the EPA's legal positions regarding the CCR rule determinations proposed in January 2022. Some CCR units at Lawrence Energy Center and Sibley Generating Station have moved into corrective action. In January 2022, the EPA issued a "Notice of Potential Violation" to the Tecumseh Energy Center suggesting a closed CCR impoundment should enter corrective action. It is possible that the Tecumseh impoundment or other CCR units at other generation stations could move into corrective action based on the EPA CCR rule interpretations, enforcement actions, or execution of the Evergy Companies' CCR strategy. The cost to comply with these proposed determinations by the EPA could be material. The Evergy Companies have recorded Asset Retirement Obligations (AROs) for their current estimates for the closure of ash disposal ponds and landfills, but the revision of these AROs may be required in the future due to changes in existing CCR regulations, the results of groundwater monitoring of CCR units or changes in interpretation of existing CCR regulations or changes in the timing or cost to close ash disposal ponds and landfills. If revisions to these AROs are necessary, the impact on the Evergy Companies' operations or consolidated financial results could be material.