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Form 10-Q MDU RESOURCES GROUP INC For: Jun 30

August 5, 2021 9:13 AM EDT

MDU RESOURCES GROUP, INC.
DIRECTOR COMPENSATION POLICY

    Each director of MDU Resources Group, Inc. (the “Company”) who is not a full-time employee of the Company (a “Director”) shall receive compensation made up of annual cash retainers and shares of the Company’s common stock (“Common Stock”), as set forth in this policy.

Director Compensation

Annual Cash Retainers
Base Retainer$100,000*
Additional Retainers:
Non-Executive Chair of the Board$112,500*
Chair of Audit Committee20,000*
Chair of Compensation Committee15,000*
Chair of Environmental and Sustainability Committee15,000*
Chair of Nominating and Governance Committee15,000*
*Effective June 1, 2021.

    Such cash retainers shall be paid in monthly installments.

    The MDU Resources Group, Inc. Deferred Compensation Plan for Directors (as amended and restated effective May 15, 2008) (the “Plan”) permits a Director to defer all or any portion of the annual cash retainers. The amount deferred is recorded in each participant's deferred compensation account and credited with income in the manner prescribed in the Plan. For further details, reference is made to the Plan, a copy of which is attached.

Common Stock

    Each person, other than the Non-Executive Chair of the Board, who is a Director of the Company at any time during the calendar year shall receive a $140,000 stock payment, and any person who is the Non-Executive Chair of the Board shall receive a $165,000 stock payment, on or about the Wednesday following the Board of Directors’ regularly-scheduled November meeting, pursuant to the Non-Employee Director Long-Term Incentive Compensation Plan. The stock payment shall be made under the Non-Employee Director Long-Term Incentive Compensation Plan. The stock payment shall be made by providing the Director or Non-Executive Chair with the number of whole shares of Common Stock determined (i) if the shares are original issue or treasury stock, by dividing the amount of the applicable stock payment by the closing price of the Common Stock on the New York Stock Exchange on the grant date and (ii) if the shares are purchased on the open market, by dividing the amount of the applicable stock payment by the weighted average price paid to purchase shares for the Director or Non-Executive Chair for that stock payment, excluding any related brokerage commissions or other service fees. Any fractional shares shall be paid in cash. The stock payment shall be prorated for any Director or Non-Executive Chair who does not serve the entire calendar year by multiplying the



applicable stock payment by a fraction, the numerator of which is the number of actual or expected months (with a partial month counted as a full month) of service on the Board during the calendar year and the denominator of which is twelve.

    By written election a Director may reduce his or her annual cash retainers and have that amount applied to the purchase of additional shares of Common Stock under the Non-Employee Director Long-Term Incentive Compensation Plan. The annual election shall specify the percentage of the annual cash retainers to be applied toward the purchase of additional shares and must be received by the Company by the last business day of the year prior to the year in which the election is to be effective. No election may be changed or revoked for the current year, but may be changed for a subsequent year. The additional stock payments will be made on the last business day of March, June, September, and December. The stock payment shall be made by providing the Director with the number of whole shares of Common Stock determined (i) if the shares are original issue or treasury stock, by dividing the amount of the applicable stock payment by the closing price of the Common Stock on the New York Stock Exchange on the grant date or (ii) if the shares are purchased on the open market, by dividing the amount of the applicable stock payment by the weighted average price paid to purchase shares for the Director for that stock payment, excluding any related brokerage commissions or other service fees. No fractional shares shall be purchased and cash in lieu of any fractional shares shall be paid to the Director.

Travel Expense Reimbursement

All Directors will be reimbursed for reasonable travel expenses incurred while serving as a Director, including spouse’s expenses, in connection with attendance at meetings of the Company’s Board of Directors and its committees. If the travel expense is related to the reimbursement of airfare, such reimbursement will not exceed full-coach rate. Spousal travel expenses paid by the Company are treated as taxable income to the Director. See the paragraph below entitled "Code Section 409A" for further rules relating to travel expense reimbursements.

Directors' Liability

    Article Seven of the Company's Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation provides that no Director of the Company shall be liable to the Company or its stockholders for monetary damages for breach of fiduciary duty as a Director, except for liability: (i) for any breach of the Director’s duty of loyalty to the Company or its stockholders, (ii) for acts or omissions not in good faith or which involve intentional misconduct or a knowing violation of law, (iii) under Section-174 of the Delaware General Corporation Law (relating to unlawful declaration of dividends and unlawful purchase of the Company's stock), or (iv) for any transaction from which the Director derived an improper personal benefit.

    Section 7.07 of the Company’s Bylaws requires the Company to indemnify a Director, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, against expenses, attorneys fees, judgments, fines and amounts paid in settlement of any suit, action or proceeding, whether civil or criminal, arising from the fact that the Director was a Director of the Company.

    Additional protection is provided through individual indemnification agreements with each Director.

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    The Company has and does maintain Directors' and Officers' liability insurance coverage with a $130 million limit.

Insurance Coverages

    The Company maintains the following insurance for protection of its Directors as they carry out the business of the Company, which shall be provided while serving as a Director: (i) general liability and automobile liability insurance, (ii) fiduciary and crime insurance, (iii) aircraft liability insurance, and (iv) business travel accident insurance.

    All outside Directors are protected by a non-contributory group life insurance policy with coverage of $100,000. The coverage begins the day the Director is elected to the Board of Directors and terminates when the Director ceases to be an outside Director. A Summary Plan Description (SPD) can be provided to the Director. The beneficiary of the insurance will be the beneficiary recorded on a beneficiary designation provided by the Company. The group life insurance policy is considered taxable compensation under current tax laws. Consequently, the Company will provide each Director annually on Form 1099 the amount of taxable income related to this coverage.

Hedging Stock Ownership
Directors are not permitted to hedge their ownership of Company common stock. Hedging strategies include but are not limited to zero-cost collars, equity swaps, straddles, prepaid variable forward contracts, security futures contracts, exchange funds, forward sale contracts and other financial transactions that allow the Director to benefit from devaluation of the Company's stock. Hedging strategies may allow Directors to own stock technically but without the full benefits and risks of such ownership. Therefore, Directors are prohibited from engaging in any such transactions.

Policy Regarding Margin Accounts and Pledging of Company Stock
Effective December 21, 2012, Directors and related persons are prohibited from holding Company common stock in a margin account or pledging Company securities as collateral for a loan, with certain exceptions. Company common stock may be held in a margin brokerage account only if the stock is explicitly excluded from any margin, pledge or security provisions of the customer agreement. Company common stock may be held in a cash account, which is a brokerage account that does not allow any extension of credit on securities. “Related person” means a Director’s spouse, minor child and any person (other than a tenant or domestic employee) sharing the household of a Director, as well as any entities over which a Director exercises control.

Code Section 409A

    To the extent any reimbursements or in-kind benefits provided to a Director pursuant to this policy constitute “deferred compensation” under Internal Revenue Code Section 409A, any such reimbursement or in-kind benefit shall be paid in a manner consistent with Treasury Regulation Section 1.409A-3(i)(1)(iv), including the requirements that the amount of reimbursable expenses or in-kind benefits provided during a year may not affect the expenses eligible for reimbursement or in-kind benefits provided in any other year and that any reimbursement be made on or before the last day of the calendar year following the calendar year in which the expense was incurred.
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CERTIFICATION

I, David L. Goodin, certify that:

1.I have reviewed this quarterly report on Form 10-Q of MDU Resources Group, Inc.;
2.Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this report;
3.Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial information included in this report, fairly present in all material respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this report;
4.The registrant's other certifying officer and I are responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for the registrant and have:
(a)Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those entities, particularly during the period in which this report is being prepared;
(b)Designed such internal control over financial reporting, or caused such internal control over financial reporting to be designed under our supervision, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles;
(c)Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant's disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end of the period covered by this report based on such evaluation; and
(d)Disclosed in this report any change in the registrant's internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the registrant's most recent fiscal quarter (the registrant's fourth fiscal quarter in the case of an annual report) that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the registrant's internal control over financial reporting; and
5.The registrant's other certifying officer and I have disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to the registrant's auditors and the audit committee of the registrant's board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions):
(a)All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or operation of internal control over financial reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the registrant's ability to record, process, summarize and report financial information; and
(b)Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other employees who have a significant role in the registrant's internal control over financial reporting.
Date: August 5, 2021 


/s/ David L. Goodin                                         
David L. Goodin
President and Chief Executive Officer



CERTIFICATION

I, Jason L. Vollmer, certify that:

1.I have reviewed this quarterly report on Form 10-Q of MDU Resources Group, Inc.;
2.Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this report;
3.Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial information included in this report, fairly present in all material respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this report;
4.The registrant's other certifying officer and I are responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for the registrant and have:
(a)Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those entities, particularly during the period in which this report is being prepared;
(b)Designed such internal control over financial reporting, or caused such internal control over financial reporting to be designed under our supervision, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles;
(c)Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant's disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end of the period covered by this report based on such evaluation; and
(d)Disclosed in this report any change in the registrant's internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the registrant's most recent fiscal quarter (the registrant's fourth fiscal quarter in the case of an annual report) that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the registrant's internal control over financial reporting; and
5.The registrant's other certifying officer and I have disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to the registrant's auditors and the audit committee of the registrant's board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions):
(a)All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or operation of internal control over financial reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the registrant's ability to record, process, summarize and report financial information; and
(b)Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other employees who have a significant role in the registrant's internal control over financial reporting.
Date:  August 5, 2021


/s/ Jason L. Vollmer
Jason L. Vollmer
Vice President and Chief Financial Officer



CERTIFICATION PURSUANT TO 18 U.S.C. SECTION 1350,
AS ADOPTED PURSUANT TO SECTION 906
OF THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002

    Each of the undersigned, David L. Goodin, the President and Chief Executive Officer, and Jason L. Vollmer, the Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of MDU Resources Group, Inc. (the "Company"), DOES HEREBY CERTIFY that:

    1.  The Company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2021 (the "Report"), fully complies with the requirements of Section 13(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934; and

    2.  Information contained in the Report fairly presents, in all material respects, the financial condition and results of operations of the Company.

    IN WITNESS WHERE OF, each of the undersigned has executed this statement this 5th day of August, 2021.


/s/ David L. Goodin                                         
David L. Goodin
President and Chief Executive Officer



/s/ Jason L. Vollmer                                         
Jason L. Vollmer
Vice President and Chief Financial Officer



A signed original of this written statement required by Section 906 has been provided to MDU Resources Group, Inc. and will be retained by MDU Resources Group, Inc. and furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission or its staff upon request.



MDU RESOURCES GROUP, INC.
MINE SAFETY INFORMATION

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act) requires issuers to include in periodic reports filed with the SEC certain information relating to citations or orders for violations of standards under the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 (Mine Act), as amended by the Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act of 2006 (Mine Safety Act). The Dodd-Frank Act requires reporting of the following types of citations or orders:

1.    Citations issued under Section 104 of the Mine Safety Act for violations that could significantly and substantially contribute to the cause and effect of a coal or other mine safety or health hazard.
2.    Orders issued under Section 104(b) of the Mine Safety Act. Orders are issued under this section when citations issued under Section 104 have not been totally abated within the time period allowed by the citation or subsequent extensions.
3.    Citations or orders issued under Section 104(d) of the Mine Safety Act. Citations or orders are issued under this section when it has been determined that the violation is caused by an unwarrantable failure of the mine operator to comply with the standards. An unwarrantable failure occurs when the mine operator is deemed to have engaged in aggravated conduct constituting more than ordinary negligence.
4.    Citations issued under Section 110(b)(2) of the Mine Safety Act for flagrant violations. Violations are considered flagrant for repeat or reckless failures to make reasonable efforts to eliminate a known violation of a mandatory health and safety standard that substantially and proximately caused, or reasonably could have been expected to cause, death or serious bodily injury.
5.    Imminent danger orders issued under Section 107(a) of the Mine Safety Act. An imminent danger is defined as the existence of any condition or practice in a coal or other mine which could reasonably be expected to cause death or serious physical harm before such condition or practice can be abated.
6.    Notice received under Section 104(e) of the Mine Safety Act of a pattern of violations or the potential to have such a pattern of violations that could significantly and substantially contribute to the cause and effect of mine health and safety standards.

During the three months ended June 30, 2021, none of the Company's operating subsidiaries received citations or orders under the following sections of the Mine Safety Act: 104(b), 104(d), 110(b)(2), 107(a) or 104(e). The Company did not have any mining-related fatalities during this period.
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MSHA Identification Number/Contractor IDSection 104 S&S Citations (#)Total Dollar Value of MSHA Assessments Proposed ($)Legal Actions Pending as of Last Day of Period (#)Legal Actions Initiated During Period (#)Legal Actions Resolved During Period (#)
04-01698— 125 — — — 
10-02088— — — — 
21-03127655 — — — 
24-020221,030 — — — 
32-00774 — 896 — — — 
35-023822,448 — — — 
35-00512 — 279 — — 
35-02968 — — 
35-03496 — 603 — — — 
35-03527— 125 — — — 
35-03605 2,407 — — — 
35-03667 — — — — 
39-00008— 355 — — — 
39-01478— 125 — — — 
41-05492— 125 — — — 
48-00715 — 125 — — — 
48-01383 — 1,769 — — — 
48-01670 — 699 — — — 
51-00036 — 250 — — — 
51-00242— 125 — — — 
$12,141 

Legal actions pending before the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission (the Commission) may involve, among other questions, challenges by operators to citations, orders and penalties they have received from the Federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) or complaints of discrimination by miners under section 105 of the Mine Act. The following is a brief description of the types of legal actions that may be brought before the Commission.

Contests of Citations and Orders - A contest proceeding may be filed with the Commission by operators, miners or miners' representatives to challenge the issuance of a citation or order issued by MSHA.
Contests of Proposed Penalties (Petitions for Assessment of Penalties) - A contest of a proposed penalty is an administrative proceeding before the Commission challenging a civil penalty that MSHA has proposed for the alleged violation contained in a citation or order.
Complaints for Compensation - A complaint for compensation may be filed with the Commission by miners entitled to compensation when a mine is closed by certain withdrawal orders issued by MSHA. The purpose of the proceeding is to determine the amount of compensation, if any, due miners idled by the orders.
Complaints of Discharge, Discrimination or Interference - A discrimination proceeding is a case that involves a miner's allegation that he or she has suffered a wrong by the operator because he or she engaged in some type of activity protected under the Mine Act, such as making a safety complaint.
Applications for Temporary Relief - Applications for temporary relief from any modification or termination of any order or from any order issued under section 104 of the Mine Act.
Appeals of Judges' Decisions or Orders to the Commission - A filing with the Commission for discretionary review of a judge's decision or order by a person who has been adversely affected or aggrieved by such decision or order.
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The following table reflects the types of legal actions pending before the Commission as of June 30, 2021:
MSHA Identification NumberContests of Citations and OrdersContests of Proposed PenaltiesComplaints for CompensationComplaints of Discharge, Discrimination or InterferenceApplications for Temporary ReliefAppeals of Judges' Decisions or Orders to the Commission
35-02968— — — — — 

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