ACCRUED ENVIRONMENTAL REMEDIATION COSTS

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2017

ACCRUED ENVIRONMENTAL REMEDIATION COSTS [Abstract]

ACCRUED ENVIRONMENTAL REMEDIATION COSTS

NOTE 8: ACCRUED ENVIRONMENTAL REMEDIATION COSTS

Our Consolidated Balance Sheets as of December 31 include accrued environmental remediation costs (measured on an undiscounted basis) as follows:

in thousands	2017	2016
Accrued Environmental Remediation Costs
Continuing operations	$        21,784	$        9,136
Retained from former Chemicals business	10,704	10,716
Total	$        32,488	$      19,852

The long-term portion of the accruals noted above is included in other noncurrent liabilities in the accompanying Consolidated Balance Sheets and amounted to $12,760,000 at December 31, 2017 and $12,655,000 at December 31, 2016. The short-term portion of these accruals is included in other current liabilities in the accompanying Consolidated Balance Sheets.

The accrued environmental remediation costs in continuing operations relate primarily to the former Florida Rock, Tarmac, and CalMat facilities acquired in 2007, 2000 and 1999, respectively. The current increase primarily relates to the Hewitt Landfill Matter. The balances noted above for Chemicals relate to retained environmental remediation costs from the 2003 sale of the Performance Chemicals business and the 2005 sale of the Chloralkali business. Refer to Note 12 for additional discussion of contingent environmental matters.