Commitments And Contingencies

12 Months Ended

Aug. 31, 2013

Commitments And Contingencies [Abstract]

Commitments And Contingencies

N. COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

In the ordinary course of its business operations, the Company is involved, from time to time, in commercial litigation, employment disputes, administrative proceedings and other legal proceedings.  The Company has established accruals for certain proceedings based on an assessment of probability of loss.  The Company believes that any potential loss in excess of the amounts accrued would not have a material effect on the business or its consolidated financial statements.  Such proceedings are exclusive of environmental remediation matters which are discussed separately below.

Environmental Remediation

In 1992, the Company entered into a consent decree with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (the “EPA”) in which the Company committed to remediate environmental contamination of the groundwater that was discovered in 1982 through 1990 at and adjacent to its Lindsay, Nebraska facility (the “site”).  The site was added to the EPA’s list of priority superfund sites in 1989.  Between 1993 and 1995, remediation plans for the site were approved by the EPA and fully implemented by the Company.  Since 1998, the primary remaining contamination at the site has been the presence of volatile organic chemicals in the soil and groundwater.  To date, the remediation process has consisted primarily of drilling wells into the aquifer and pumping water to the surface to allow these contaminants to be removed by aeration.

In fiscal 2012, the Company undertook an investigation to assess further potential site remediation and containment actions.  In connection with the receipt of preliminary results of this investigation and other evaluations, the Company estimated that it would incur $7.2 million in remediation and operating costs and accrued that undiscounted amount as an operating expense in fiscal 2012.  The EPA has not approved the Company’s remediation plan. 

In fiscal 2013, the Company and the EPA conducted a periodic five-year review of the status of the remediation of the contamination of the site.  The Company intends to complete additional investigation of the soil and groundwater on the site during the first half of fiscal 2014. The Company will then assess whether it will need to revise its remediation plan in order to come to an agreement with the EPA on how to proceed.  During fiscal 2013, the Company did not accrue any additional incremental costs related to environmental remediation liabilities. The Company anticipates there could be revisions to the current remediation plan as a result of these activities and as additional information is obtained.  Any revisions could be material to the operating results of any fiscal quarter or fiscal year.  The Company does not expect such additional expenses would have a material adverse effect on its liquidity or financial condition. 

The Company accrues the anticipated cost of investigation and remediation when the obligation is probable and can be reasonably estimated.  Although the Company has accrued all reasonably estimable costs associated with remediation of the site, it is expected that additional testing and environmental monitoring and remediation could be required in the future as part of the Company’s ongoing discussions with the EPA regarding the development and implementation of the remedial action plans.  In addition, the current investigation has not yet been completed and does not include all potentially affected areas on the site.  Due to the current stage of discussions with the EPA and the uncertainty of the remediation actions that may be required with respect to these affected areas, the Company believes that meaningful estimates of costs or range of costs cannot currently be made and accordingly have not been accrued. 

The following table summarizes the undiscounted environmental remediation liability classifications included in the balance sheet as of August 31, 2013 and 2012:

Environmental Remediation Liabilities
$ in thousands	August 31,		August 31,
Balance Sheet Location	2013		2012
Other current liabilities	$	1,740	$	2,414
Other noncurrent liabilities		5,200		5,200
Total environmental remediation liabilities	$	6,940	$	7,614

Leases

The Company leases land, buildings, machinery, equipment, and computer equipment under various noncancelable operating lease agreements.  At August 31, 2013, future minimum lease payments under noncancelable operating leases were as follows:

Fiscal Years	$ in thousands
2014	$	2,590
2015		1,904
2016		1,260
2017		1,011
2018		791
Thereafter		970
	$	8,526

Lease expense was $3.9million,  $3.6 million and $3.4 million for the years ended August 31, 2013,  2012, and 2011, respectively.