13. Commitments and Contingent Liabilities Legal Matters The EPA issued Notices of Violations (NOVs) for our Haverhill and Granite City cokemaking facilities which stemmed from alleged violations of our air emission operating permits for these facilities. We worked in a cooperative manner with the EPA, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to address the allegations and entered into a consent decree in federal district court in the Southern District of Illinois (the Court) with these parties. The consent decree included a $2.2 million civil penalty payment, which was paid in December 2014 , as well as capital projects to improve the reliability of the energy recovery systems and enhance environmental performance at the Haverhill and Granite City facilities. In the third quarter of 2018, the Court entered an amendment to the consent decree, which provided the Haverhill and Granite City facilities with additional time to perform necessary maintenance on the flue gas desulfurization systems without exceeding consent decree limits. The emissions associated with this maintenance will be mitigated in accordance with the amendment, and there are no civil penalty payments associated with this amendment performance. The project at Haverhill was completed in 2016. The project at Granite City was due to be completed in February 2019, but was instead completed in June 2019, and the Company is in discussions with the government entities regarding, among other things, the timing thereof. We spent $151.5 million related to these environmental projects since work began in 2012. SunCoke Energy has also received NOVs, Findings of Violations (FOVs), and information requests from the EPA related to our Indiana Harbor cokemaking facility, which allege violations of certain air operating permit conditions for this facility. The Clean Air Act (the CAA) provides the EPA with the authority to issue, among other actions, an order to enforce a State Implementation Plan (SIP) 30 days after an NOV. The CAA also authorizes EPA enforcement of other non-SIP requirements immediately after an FOV. Generally, an NOV applies to SIPs and requires the EPA to wait 30 days, while an FOV applies to all other provisions (such as federal regulations) of the CAA, and has no waiting period. The NOVs and/or FOVs were received in 2010, 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2016. After discussions with the EPA and the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) in 2010, resolution of the NOVs and FOVs was postponed by mutual agreement because of ongoing discussions regarding the NOVs at Haverhill and Granite City. In January 2012, the Company began working in a cooperative manner to address the allegations with the EPA, the IDEM and Cokenergy, LLC., an independent power producer that owns and operates an energy facility, including heat recovery equipment and a flue gas desulfurization system, that processes hot flue gas from our Indiana Harbor facility to produce steam and electricity and to reduce the sulfur and particulate content of such flue gas. The EPA, IDEM, SunCoke Energy and Cokenergy, LLC met regularly since those discussions commenced to reach a settlement of the NOVs and FOVs. Capital projects were underway during this time to address items that would be included in conjunction with a settlement. A consent decree among the parties was entered by the federal district court in the Northern District of Indiana during the fourth quarter of 2018. The settlement includes a $2.5 million civil penalty that was paid in the fourth quarter of 2018. Further, the settlement consists of capital projects that were completed during the fourth quarter of 2019 to improve reliability and environmental performance of the coke ovens at the facility. The Company is a party to certain other pending and threatened claims, including matters related to commercial and tax disputes, product liability, employment claims, personal injury claims, premises-liability claims, allegations of exposures to toxic substances and environmental claims. Although the ultimate outcome of these claims cannot be ascertained at this time, it is reasonably possible that some portion of these claims could be resolved unfavorably to the Company. Management of the Company believes that any liability which may arise from these claims would not have a material adverse impact on our consolidated financial statements. Black Lung Benefit Liabilities The Company has obligations related to coal workers pneumoconiosis, or black lung, benefits to certain of our former coal miners and their dependents. Such benefits are provided for under Title IV of the Federal Coal Mine and Safety Act of 1969 and subsequent amendments, as well as for black lung benefits provided in the states of Virginia, Kentucky and West Virginia pursuant to workers compensation legislation. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), which was implemented in 2010, amended previous legislation related to coal workers black lung obligations. PPACA provides for the automatic extension of awarded lifetime benefits to surviving spouses and changes the legal criteria used to assess and award claims. We act as a self-insurer for both state and federal black lung benefits and adjust our liability each year based upon actuarial calculations of our expected future payments for these benefits. Our independent actuarial consultants calculate the present value of the estimated black lung liability annually based on actuarial models utilizing our population of former coal miners, historical payout patterns of both the Company and the industry, actuarial mortality rates, disability incidence, medical costs, death benefits, dependents, discount rates and the current federally mandated payout rates. The estimated liability may be impacted by future changes in the statutory mechanisms, modifications by court decisions and changes in filing patterns driven by perceptions of success by claimants and their advisors, the impact of which cannot be estimated. The following table summarizes discount rates utilized, active claims and the total black lung liabilities: December 31, 2019 2018 Discount rate (1) 2.9 % 4.0 % Active claims 324 345 Total black lung liability (dollars in millions) (2) $ 55.1 $ 49.4 (1) The discount rate is determined based on a portfolio of high-quality corporate bonds with maturities that are consistent with the estimated duration of our black lung obligations. A decrease of 25 basis points in the discount rate would have increased black lung expense by $1.3 million in 2019. (2) The current portion of the black lung liability was $4.6 million and $4.5 million at December 31, 2019 and 2018 , respectively, and was included in accrued liabilities on the Consolidated Balance Sheets. The following table summarizes annual black lung payments and expense: Years Ended December 31, 2019 2018 2017 (Dollars in millions) Payments $ 5.2 $ 6.3 $ 7.4 Expense $ 10.9 $ 5.4 $ 7.5