Mosaic Fertilizer, LLC Reaches Regulatory Settlement In Florida And Louisiana

Mosaic Fertilizer, LLC, a subsidiary of The Mosaic Company

, today announced that it has reached settlements with federal and state environmental agencies to resolve claims about how the company has managed certain onsite waste materials at its fertilizer manufacturing facilities in Florida and Louisiana. The settlements are subject to court approval. "We are pleased to be bringing this matter to a close," said Joc O'Rourke, President and Chief Executive Officer of The Mosaic Company. "Mosaic is committed to meaningful environmental stewardship at all of our facilities, and we take our responsibility to be good corporate citizens--now and for the decades ahead--very seriously. The commitments we are making through these settlements further those stewardship efforts." When the settlements become effective, the company will invest at least $170 million at its fertilizer manufacturing facilities to modify certain onsite waste management practices and implement innovative procedures to recover and beneficially use resources. The company also will place $630 million of cash into trust as financial assurance to support the closure and long-term care of its phosphogypsum stack systems. As part of the agreements with the government, Mosaic will pay a penalty of $8 million and will conduct two environmental projects valued at $2.2 million in Florida and Louisiana. The company does not expect the settlements or resulting operational changes to adversely impact production rates or volumes. Mosaic has previously discussed the potential of capital investment and financial assurance parameters of the settlements in its SEC filings. The environmental agencies with whom Mosaic Fertilizer, LLC is settling consist of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) and the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ). The settlements will resolve all of the claims which the agencies have asserted relating to the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and state hazardous waste law. EPA initially made those claims in 2005 and 2006 as part of an enforcement initiative involving the phosphate fertilizer manufacturing industry. "In the years since EPA began this enforcement initiative, Mosaic has voluntarily made a number of major improvements to and significant capital investments in our facilities to enhance environmental performance, and the settlements will build upon that good work," said O'Rourke. Mosaic has received extensive third-party recognition for its corporate responsibility, sustainability and environmental stewardship work. The company has been included on Corporate Responsibility Magazine's "100 Best Corporate Citizens" list in the U.S. for six consecutive years and was named to the CDP's (formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project) S&P 500 Climate Disclosure Leadership and Climate Performance Leadership Indexes two years in a row. Additionally, Mosaic earned recognition on Newsweek's "Green Rankings: America's Greenest Companies" list as one of the 500 greenest companies in the U.S in 2013 and 2014, and has twice been named to The Ethisphere Institute's list of the "World's Most Ethical Companies."