Dictionary of Accounting Terms: environmental costs
environmental costs
expenditures incurred to prevent, contain,or remove environmental contamination. Such costs are generally expensed. However, in the following cases only, the company may elect to either expense or defer the costs: (1) the expenditures either extend the life or capacity of the asset or increase the property's safety; (2) the expenditures are made to get the property ready for sale; and (3) the expenditures prevent or lessen environmental contamination that may result from future activities of property owned.
