Item 3. Legal Proceedings.
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Item 3. Legal Proceedings.
We have included information about legal and environmental proceedings in Note 22 of our Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements. That information is incorporated herein by reference.
We are also subject to the following legal and environmental proceedings in addition to those described in Note 22 of our Consolidated Financial Statements included in this report:
Countervailing Duty Petitions. In 2020, we filed petitions with the U.S. Department of Commerce (“DOC”) and the U.S. International Trade Commission (“ITC”) that requested the initiation of countervailing duty investigations into imports of
phosphate fertilizers from Morocco and Russia. The purpose of the petitions was to remedy the distortions that we believe foreign subsidies have caused or are causing in the U.S. market for phosphate fertilizers, and thereby restore fair competition. On February 16, 2021, the DOC made final affirmative determinations that countervailable subsidies were being provided by those governments. On March 11, 2021, the ITC made final affirmative determinations that the U.S. phosphate fertilizer industry is materially injured by reason of subsidized phosphate fertilizer imports from Morocco and Russia. As a result of these determinations, the DOC issued countervailing duty orders on phosphate fertilizer imports from Russia and Morocco, which are scheduled to remain in place for at least five years. Currently, the cash deposit rates for such imports are approximately 20 percent for Moroccan producer OCP, 9 percent and 47 percent for Russian producers PhosAgro and Eurochem, respectively, and 17 percent for all other/Russian producers. The final determinations in the DOC and ITC investigations are subject to challenge before U.S. federal courts and the World Trade Organization. Mosaic has initiated actions at the U.S. Court of International Trade contesting certain aspects of the DOC’s final determinations that, we believe, failed to capture the full extent of Moroccan and Russian phosphate fertilizer subsidies. Moroccan and Russian producers have also initiated U.S. Court of International Trade actions, seeking lower cash deposit rates and revocation of the countervailing duty orders. Further, the cash deposit rates and the amount of countervailing duties owed by importers on such imports could change based on the results of the litigation as well as DOC’s annual administrative review proceedings.
The South Pasture Extension Mine Litigation. On January 8, 2020, the Hardee County Mining Coordinator issued a Notice of Violation (“NOV”) for the failure by Mosaic to proceed with reclamation of two designated reclamation units within the South Pasture Mine footprint. These two reclamation units comprise 166 acres of mined lands. The NOV cites noncompliance with the County Land Development Regulations and with the conditions of Development of Regional Impact (“DRI”) Development Order 12-21 that was issued in 2012 to authorize continued mining at the South Pasture Mine, continued operation of the South Pasture beneficiation plant, and mining at the South Pasture Mine Extension. Through the NOV, the county requested that Mosaic submit a revised reclamation plan and schedule to demonstrate when initial reclamation activities would be completed for the two reclamation units identified in the NOV.
The delay in meeting the required reclamation schedule at the two reclamation units is tied to the idling and eventual shutdown of the Plant City fertilizer plant and the idling of the South Pasture Mine beneficiation plant. The Plant City facility was first idled in late 2017. In June 2019, Mosaic announced that the Plant City facility would be closed permanently.
Given the relationship between the Plant City fertilizer plant and the South Pasture beneficiation plant, and facing adverse market conditions, Mosaic idled the South Pasture beneficiation plant in September 2018. Idling of the South Pasture Mine beneficiation plant in September 2018 resulted in no tailings sand being produced by the processing of phosphate matrix. As a result, there was no tailings sand available for use in sand backfilling reclamation at the South Pasture Mine, and specifically, the two reclamation units identified in the county’s January 8th NOV.
On March 10, 2020, Mosaic filed an “Application for Waiver and Reclamation Schedule Extension” to secure Board of County Commissioners (“BOCC”) approval of extended reclamation deadlines for the South Pasture Mine. To obtain waiver relief from the BOCC, a quasi-judicial hearing would be required.
Extensive negotiations between Mosaic and county legal and technical staff resulted in an agreement that involved two separate but related actions: (1) secure a waiver and reclamation schedule extension through formal action by the BOCC at a quasi-judicial public hearing; and (2) enter into a settlement agreement that would require payment of a civil penalty by Mosaic for the non-compliance in meeting the required reclamation deadlines of the South Pasture Mine Development Order and the County Mining Ordinance. The settlement agreement would also be presented and acted upon at a formal public hearing before the BOCC.
On May 7, 2020, a quasi-public judicial hearing was held before the Hardee County BOCC. At that hearing, the BOCC voted unanimously to issue a waiver of the applicable reclamation deadlines of the South Pasture Development Order and the county ordinance for three specific reclamation areas of the South Pasture Mine. The waiver also included a negotiated alternative reclamation schedule that extends the deadline for completion of reclamation until the end of 2023. At that same hearing, the BOCC approved a settlement agreement that resolved all outstanding non-compliance associated with reclamation obligations at the South Pasture Mine and required Mosaic to pay an agreed settlement amount of $249,000.
Mosaic has satisfied the payment obligation of the settlement agreement and continues to implement the alternative reclamation schedule, as required. Monitoring programs have been put in place to ensure continued compliance with the waiver and settlement agreement.
Cruz Litigation. On August 27, 2020, a putative class action complaint was filed in the Circuit Court of the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit in Hillsborough County, Florida against our wholly owned subsidiary, Mosaic Global Operations Inc., and
two unrelated co-defendants. The complaint alleges claims related to elevated levels of radiation at two manufactured housing communities located on reclaimed mining land in Mulberry, Polk County, Florida, allegedly due to phosphate mining and reclamation activities occurring decades ago. Plaintiffs seek monetary damages, including punitive damages, injunctive relief requiring remediation of their properties, and a medical monitoring program funded by the defendants. On October 14, 2021, the court substantially granted a motion to dismiss we filed late in 2020, with leave for the plaintiffs to amend their complaint.
On November 3, 2021, plaintiffs filed an amended complaint and in response, Mosaic filed a motion to dismiss that complaint with prejudice on November 15, 2021. On December 23, 2021, plaintiffs opposed that motion and Mosaic replied to that opposition on January 26, 2022.
We intend to vigorously defend this matter.
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