BOISE CASCADE Co

We are subject to a wide range of general and industry-specific environmental laws and regulations. In particular, we are affected by laws and regulations covering air emissions, wastewater discharges, solid and hazardous waste management, and site remediation. Compliance with these laws and regulations is a significant factor in the operation of our businesses. We believe that we have created a corporate culture of strong compliance by taking a conservative approach to environmental issues in order to ensure that we are operating within the bounds of regulatory requirements. However, we cannot guarantee that we will be in compliance with environmental requirements at all times, and we cannot guarantee that we will not incur fines and penalties in the future. In 2023, we paid an insignificant amount in environmental fines and penalties.

We incur capital and operating expenditures to comply with federal, state, and local environmental laws and regulations. Failure to comply with these laws and regulations could result in civil or criminal fines or penalties or in enforcement actions. Our failure to comply could also result in governmental or judicial orders that stop or interrupt our operations or require us to take corrective measures, install additional pollution control equipment, or take other remedial actions. During 2023 and 2022, we spent approximately $3 million and $4 million, respectively, on capital expenditures to comply with environmental requirements. We expect to spend approximately $10 million in 2024 for this purpose.

As an owner and operator of real estate, we may be liable under environmental laws for the cleanup of past and present spills and releases of hazardous or toxic substances on or from our properties and operations. We may also be contractually obligated to indemnify third parties under environmental laws for the cleanup of past spills and releases of hazardous or toxic substances for properties which we no longer own and operate. We could be found liable under these laws whether or not we knew of, or were responsible for, the presence of such substances. In some cases, this liability may exceed the property's value.

In connection with prior transactions, certain third parties are generally obligated to indemnify us for hazardous substance releases and other environmental violations that occurred prior to such transactions. However, these third parties may not have sufficient funds to fully satisfy their indemnification obligations when required, and in some cases, we may not be contractually entitled to indemnification by them.

Climate Change

We source logs from responsibly managed working forests. Our log procurement practices are internally and third-party audited to meet the requirements of forest certification standards. When logs arrive at our facilities, they are processed into products that store carbon such as plywood, lumber and EWP. Bark and manufacturing residuals are used as biomass fuel, which allows us to generate the majority of the energy needed to manufacture our products. All manufacturing energy not derived from biomass is sourced from natural gas or electricity. None of our manufacturing facilities use coal or fuel oil as primary energy sources to manufacture products.

The use of our products is an energy efficient building choice, and results in lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions during manufacturing, when used in place of more fossil fuel-intensive materials. We are assessing opportunities related to increased interest or demand for wood-based building materials due to their role in climate mitigation.

In recent years, various legislative and regulatory proposals to restrict GHG emissions, such as carbon dioxide, have been under consideration in state legislative bodies and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). These proposals have included regulations to reduce GHG emissions from new and existing electric utilities, which may result in increased electricity costs to our businesses. This impact may be partially mitigated, as the majority of the energy used to manufacture our products is generated from biomass fuel, which reduces our reliance on fossil fuels. There are currently no specific regulations that require our wood products plants to reduce GHG emissions, and the current EPA administration has not announced plans to develop such federal regulations.

States are taking various positions on climate change regulation. Oregon and Washington have enacted regulations intended to reduce GHG emissions. These regulations have not directly affected our manufacturing facilities; however, they are expected to impact our operations by increasing future costs related to natural gas, transportation fuel, and/or electricity. Our manufacturing operations derive a significant amount of their energy from biomass fuel, a carbon neutral emission, which may not be directly regulated. However, changes in biomass fuel regulations may increase our costs for fuel and electricity. We are not aware of any plans to regulate GHG emissions by other states in which we have manufacturing operations. There are several states that have implemented, or have proposed to implement, regulations that will require sale of zero-emission heavy duty trucks and phase out existing diesel fueled trucks. Our manufacturing and distribution operations rely on diesel fueled trucks to transport materials from suppliers and deliver products to customers. These new zero-emission vehicles are expected to be more expensive than traditional diesel trucks. In addition, there are concerns that the availability of compliant trucks may not be sufficient to meet demand at the time of scheduled replacement, the charging or hydrogen fuel infrastructure may not be adequate, and available early model zero-emission trucks may not be able to travel the distance or carry the load of existing trucks. In addition, there are ongoing efforts by some states and various organizations to encourage and/or require companies to calculate, report, and reduce their carbon footprint. Furthermore, our customers may impose carbon footprint standards on their vendors, which may require us to incur additional costs associated with the evaluation and reduction of GHGs. Given the high degree of uncertainty about the ultimate parameters of any GHG regulatory initiatives, it is premature to make any prediction concerning such impacts.

Other Regulatory Initiatives

From time to time, legislative bodies and environmental regulatory agencies may promulgate new or revised regulatory programs imposing significant incremental operating costs or capital costs on us.

In January 2023, the EPA signed a proposal to lower the primary annual National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for fine particulate matter (PM-2.5). Lowering the PM-2.5 NAAQS would result in more areas within the U.S. that would exceed the NAAQS. These areas would be classified as non-attainment areas. It is possible that some of our manufacturing facilities would be located in areas that will be reclassified as non-attainment areas. Non-attainment areas must develop regulations designed to bring the areas into attainment. Our manufacturing facilities located in non-attainment areas would be subject to more stringent emission limits and permitting requirements, which could require additional costs to implement improvements to ensure compliance. Further, it could become more difficult to permit mill expansions, which may restrict our future growth. Until the EPA finalizes the new rules, we are unable to predict the specific impact to our facilities.

In 2016, our facilities began complying with the Boiler Maximum Achievable Control Technology (Boiler MACT) regulations, which regulate emissions of hazardous air pollutants from industrial boilers and process heaters. Following litigation of the standards, in September 2022, the EPA adopted more stringent Boiler MACT emission standards for several types of boilers, including boilers common to our facilities. Boilers must be in compliance with the revised standards by September 2025. We determined boiler improvement projects are necessary to meet the revised standards at three of our facilities and we expect to spend approximately $4 million in 2024 on these projects.

Some of our wood products facilities are subject to the Plywood and Composite Wood Products (PCWP) MACT standards for hazardous air pollutants, and they have complied with these standards since 2007 or 2008. The EPA published its Risk and Technology Review (RTR) for PCWP MACT standards, which concluded additional controls were not required for PCWP sources. However, the RTR Rule did not address certain remanded sources, including plywood presses, lumber kilns, and various other emission sources at wood products manufacturing mills. Furthermore, soon after publication of the RTR Rule, an environmental organization filed a petition for reconsideration which the EPA has granted. While there was a court-ordered deadline of November 2023 to complete the revised rule, the EPA negotiated an extension that allows them until June 2026 to finalize the revised rule. It is expected that manufacturing facilities subject to PCWP MACT standards will have three years after publication of the revised rule for compliance. At this time, we are unable to predict the impact of the revised final rules to our business.

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (ODEQ) Cleaner Air Oregon (CAO) rules regulate toxic air emissions from manufacturing facilities located in Oregon. The rules are risk-based, and the ODEQ released their prioritization list establishing which facilities within the state likely pose the greatest risk to their communities based on emissions inventories that facilities submitted to the ODEQ. The ODEQ established four risk groups. None of our mills were identified in the first tier risk group. Our Medford plywood mill was identified in the second tier group. To date the ODEQ has not completed the program for the first tier risk group. We currently anticipate Medford Plywood will be selected into the program in 2024. Our other Oregon mills were identified in the third and fourth tier groups and will likely not be selected for several more years. When selected into the program, the facilities may incur expenses to evaluate the risk to the public and may be required to incur additional operating or capital expenditures to mitigate any significant risk.

The EPA's Regional Haze Rule sets standards for visual air clarity in "Federal Class I" areas such as national parks and wilderness areas. In 2020, the ODEQ required our Medford and Elgin plywood mills to submit a cost/benefit analysis of emission controls that would reduce pollution at the mills associated with regional haze. In January 2021, both facilities received a preliminary determination from the ODEQ that additional controls would “likely” be required for the facilities’ boilers. Our Medford plywood mill negotiated permit emission reductions sufficient to reduce their potential regional haze impact to below the ODEQ threshold, and therefore, will not be required to install additional controls or take other actions. The emission reductions are not expected to impact the facility's ability to meet production goals. Our Elgin plywood mill is required to conduct a study to determine what levels of emission reduction can be achieved by installation of improved boiler controls. We began installation of boiler combustion improvements in May 2023, are monitoring emissions, and are required to propose new emission limits by December 2025. We are then required to be fully compliant with those new emission limits by August 2026. We expect to spend approximately $2 million in 2024 related to these boiler combustion improvements.