Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

Commitments and Contingencies

v3.24.3
Commitments and Contingencies
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2024
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]  
Commitments and Contingencies

13. Commitments and Contingencies

 

Environmental Liabilities and Contingencies

The Company is subject to certain federal and state environmental laws and regulations associated with sites at which it stores and sells fuel and other fuel products, as well as at owned and leased locations leased or subleased to dealers. As of September 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023, environmental obligations totaled $11.7 million and $13.4 million, respectively. These amounts were recorded as other current and non-current liabilities in the condensed consolidated balance sheets. Environmental reserves have been established on an undiscounted basis based upon internal and external estimates in regard to each site. It is reasonably possible that these amounts will be adjusted in the future due to changes in estimates of environmental remediation costs, the timing of the payments or changes in federal and/or state environmental regulations.

The Company maintains certain environmental insurance policies and participates in various state underground storage tank funds that entitle it to be reimbursed for remediation costs. Estimated amounts that will be recovered from its insurance policies and various state funds for the exposures totaled $6.7 million and $7.5 million as of September 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023, respectively, and were recorded as other current and non-current assets in the condensed consolidated balance sheets.

 

Asset Retirement Obligation

As part of the fuel operations at its retail convenience stores and proprietary cardlock locations, at most of the other owned and leased locations leased to dealers, certain other dealer locations and private cardlock locations, there are aboveground and underground storage tanks for which the Company is responsible. The future cost to remove a storage tank is recognized over the estimated remaining useful life of the storage tank or the termination of the applicable lease. A liability for the fair value of an asset retirement obligation with a corresponding increase to the carrying value of the related long-lived asset is recorded at the time a storage tank is installed. The estimated liability is based upon historical experience in removing storage tanks, estimated tank useful lives, external estimates as to the cost to remove the tanks in the future and current and anticipated federal and state regulatory requirements governing the removal of tanks, and discounted. The Company has recorded an asset retirement obligation of $88.1 million and $85.4 million at September 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023, respectively. The current portion of the asset retirement obligation is included in other current liabilities in the condensed consolidated balance sheets.

 

Program Agreement

On September 30, 2024, GPM, together with Blue Owl, entered into a sixth amendment to the Program Agreement, which, among other things, (i) extended the term of the Program Agreement and the exclusivity period thereunder through September 30, 2025, subject to certain early termination events and (ii) provides for up to $1.0 billion of capacity under the Program Agreement from May 2, 2023 through September 30, 2025, subject to reduction for any amounts Blue Owl funds to GPM in connection with certain other projects that may be entered into between Blue Owl and GPM. The other material terms of the Program Agreement remained substantially unchanged.

Potential Wage and Hour Class Action

A law firm representing store managers in multiple states sent the Company a letter, alleging that the Company violated the Fair Labor Standards Act and state laws by classifying certain store managers as exempt from overtime. The Company has entered into a tolling agreement with opposing counsel to provide the Company with sufficient time to investigate the allegations. The letter did not quantify any alleged damages but stated that the store managers may seek collective and/or class certification.

Given the uncertainty of the result of any litigation and the undetermined nature of the number of putative collective and/or class members, the subset of store managers who would fall into such putative collective and/or class, the number of putative collective members who would participate if a collective was certified, the states for which class certification would be sought and the number of employees at issue in each such alleged class, the Company cannot reasonably estimate the possible loss or range of loss, if any, that may result from this action; therefore, no accrual has been made related to this matter.

Other Legal Matters

The Company is a party to various legal actions, as both plaintiff and defendant, in the ordinary course of business. The Company’s management believes, based on estimations with support from legal counsel for these matters, that these legal actions are routine in nature and incidental to the operation of the Company’s business and that it is not reasonably probable that the ultimate resolution of these matters will have a material adverse impact on the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.