INCOME TAXES (Details) (USD $)	12 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2014	Sep. 30, 2013	Sep. 30, 2012
Current:
Federal	$ 323,386,000	$ 315,820,000	$ 108,297,000
Foreign	15,841,000	14,551,000	13,201,000
State	21,197,000	32,916,000	10,542,000
Total current	360,424,000	363,287,000	132,040,000
Deferred:
Federal	28,183,000	35,530,000	196,373,000
Foreign	(3,265,000)	(1,409,000)	(6,484,000)
State	2,206,000	(4,564,000)	7,042,000
Total deferred	27,124,000	29,557,000	196,931,000
Total provision	387,548,000	392,844,000	328,971,000
Amounts of domestic and foreign income before income taxes
Domestic	1,061,006,000	1,071,435,000	886,484,000
Foreign	35,308,000	42,862,000	16,096,000
Income from continuing operations before income taxes	1,096,314,000	1,114,297,000	902,580,000
Deferred tax liabilities:
Property, plant and equipment	1,187,774,000	1,161,134,000
Available-for-sale securities	83,787,000	117,567,000
Other	67,000	55,000
Total deferred tax liabilities	1,271,628,000	1,278,756,000
Deferred tax assets:
Pension reserves	1,370,000	2,146,000
Self-insurance reserves	10,311,000	8,357,000
Net operating loss and foreign tax credit carryforwards	48,285,000	54,867,000
Financial accruals	52,289,000	48,963,000
Other	8,332,000	7,487,000
Total deferred tax assets	120,587,000	121,820,000
Valuation allowance	47,699,000	49,631,000
Net deferred tax assets	72,888,000	72,189,000
Net deferred tax liabilities	1,198,740,000	1,206,567,000
Operating Loss Carryforwards
Amount of foreign tax credit carryforwards for income tax purposes	49,900,000
Deferred tax asset prior to consideration of valuation allowance	39,200,000
Effective income tax rates as compared to the U.S. Federal income tax rate
U.S. Federal income tax rate (as a percent)	35.00%	35.00%	35.00%
Effect of foreign taxes (as a percent)	1.20%	1.10%	0.70%
State income taxes, net of federal tax benefit (as a percent)	1.40%	1.50%	1.40%
U.S. domestic production activities (as a percent)	(2.60%)	(2.10%)	(1.10%)
Other	0.40%	(0.20%)	0.40%
Effective income tax rate (as a percent)	35.40%	35.30%	36.40%
Accrued interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits	6,400,000	5,200,000
Reconciliation of the change in gross unrecognized tax benefits
Unrecognized tax benefits at the beginning of the period	8,129,000	8,438,000
Gross decreases - tax positions in prior periods	(4,000)	(914,000)
Gross increases - tax positions in prior periods	4,293,000	1,896,000
Gross decreases - current period effect of tax positions	(836,000)	(437,000)
Gross increases - current period effect of tax positions	4,000	147,000
Expiration of statute of limitations for assessments	(533,000)	(562,000)
Settlements	(306,000)	(439,000)
Unrecognized tax benefits at the end of the period	10,747,000	8,129,000	8,438,000
Unrecognized tax benefits related to discontinued operations	2,900,000	100,000
Uncertain tax positions
Reasonably possible increase in the reserve for uncertain tax positions, low range	8,600,000
Reasonably possible increase in the reserve for uncertain tax positions, high range	11,200,000
Uncertain tax positions related to discontinued operations	3,500,000
IRS Issued Regulations
Period of tax impact	4 years
Amount of the expected net tax provision related to IRS issued regulations	0
State and Local jurisdiction
Operating Loss Carryforwards
Amount of net operating loss carryforwards for income tax purposes	7,400,000
Net operating loss carryforward, valuation allowance	500,000
Foreign jurisdiction
Operating Loss Carryforwards
Amount of net operating loss carryforwards for income tax purposes	24,600,000
Net operating loss carryforward, valuation allowance	7,900,000
Foreign tax carryforwards which more likely than not will not be utilized	$ 39,200,000