Landfill and Environmental Costs |
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Dec. 31, 2016 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Environmental Remediation Obligations [Abstract] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Landfill and Environmental Costs | LANDFILL AND ENVIRONMENTAL COSTS As of December 31, 2016, we owned or operated 192 active landfills with total available disposal capacity of approximately 5.0 billion in-place cubic yards. Additionally, we had post-closure responsibility for 124 closed landfills. A summary of our accrued landfill and environmental liabilities as of December 31 follows:
Final Capping, Closure and Post-Closure Costs The following table summarizes the activity in our asset retirement obligation liabilities, which includes liabilities for final capping, closure and post-closure, for the years ended December 31:
We review our landfill asset retirement obligations at least annually. As a result, we recorded a net decrease in amortization expense of $6.5 million, $0.7 million and $13.3 million for 2016, 2015 and 2014, respectively, primarily related to changes in estimates and assumptions concerning the anticipated waste flow, cost and timing of future final capping, closure and post-closure activities. The fair value of assets that are legally restricted for purposes of settling final capping, closure and post-closure obligations was approximately $27.9 million as of December 31, 2016 and is included in restricted cash and marketable securities in our consolidated balance sheet. The expected future payments for final capping, closure and post-closure as of December 31, 2016 follows:
The estimated remaining final capping, closure and post-closure expenditures presented above are not inflated and not discounted and reflect the total estimated future payments for liabilities which include those incurred and recorded as of December 31, 2016 as well as liabilities yet to be incurred over the remaining life of our landfills. Environmental Remediation Liabilities We accrue for remediation costs when they become probable and can be reasonably estimated. There can sometimes be a range of reasonable estimates of the costs associated with remediation of a site. In these cases, we use the amount within the range that constitutes our best estimate. If no amount within the range appears to be a better estimate than any other, we use the amount that is at the low end of such range. It is reasonably possible that we will need to adjust the liabilities recorded for remediation to reflect the effects of new or additional information, to the extent such information impacts the costs, timing or duration of the required actions. If we used the reasonably possible high ends of our ranges, our aggregate potential remediation liability as of December 31, 2016 would be approximately $377 million higher than the amounts recorded. Future changes in our estimates of the cost, timing or duration of the required actions could have a material adverse effect on our consolidated financial position, results of operations and cash flows. The following table summarizes the activity in our environmental remediation liabilities for the years ended December 31:
The expected undiscounted future payments for remediation costs as of December 31, 2016 follows:
It is reasonably possible that we will need to adjust our liabilities to reflect the effects of new or additional information, to the extent that such information impacts the costs, timing or duration of the required actions. Future changes in our estimates of the costs, timing or duration of the required actions could have a material adverse effect on our consolidated financial position, results of operations and cash flows. The following is a discussion of certain of our significant remediation matters: Bridgeton Landfill. During the year ended December 31, 2016, we paid $23.0 million related to management and monitoring of the remediation area for our closed Bridgeton Landfill in Missouri. We continue to work with state and federal regulatory agencies on our remediation efforts. From time to time, this may require us to modify our future operating timeline and procedures, which could result in changes to our expected liability. As of December 31, 2016, the remediation liability recorded for this site is $197.2 million, of which $26.4 million is expected to be paid during 2017. We believe the remaining reasonably possible high end of our range would be approximately $156 million higher than the amount recorded as of December 31, 2016. During 2015, we collected an insurance recovery of $50.0 million related to our Bridgeton Landfill. As such, we recorded a reduction of remediation expenses included in our cost of operations during the year ended December 31, 2015. |