INCOME TAXES (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2014

INCOME TAXES

Schedule of components of the provision for income taxes

	Years Ended September 30,
	2014			2013			2012
	(in thousands)
Current:
Federal	$	323,386		$	315,820		$	108,297
Foreign		15,841			14,551			13,201
State		21,197			32,916			10,542
		360,424			363,287			132,040
Deferred:
Federal		28,183			35,530			196,373
Foreign		(3,265	)		(1,409	)		(6,484	)
State		2,206			(4,564	)		7,042
		27,124			29,557			196,931
Total provision	$	387,548		$	392,844		$	328,971

Schedule of domestic and foreign income before income taxes

	Years Ended September 30,
	2014		2013		2012
	(in thousands)
Domestic	$	1,061,006	$	1,071,435	$	886,484
Foreign		35,308		42,862		16,096
	$	1,096,314	$	1,114,297	$	902,580

Schedule of components of net deferred tax liabilities

	September 30,
	2014		2013
	(in thousands)
Deferred tax liabilities:
Property, plant and equipment	$	1,187,774	$	1,161,134
Available-for-sale securities		83,787		117,567
Other		67		55
Total deferred tax liabilities		1,271,628		1,278,756
Deferred tax assets:
Pension reserves		1,370		2,146
Self-insurance reserves		10,311		8,357
Net operating loss and foreign tax credit carryforwards		48,285		54,867
Financial accruals		52,289		48,963
Other		8,332		7,487
Total deferred tax assets		120,587		121,820
Valuation allowance		47,699		49,631
Net deferred tax assets		72,888		72,189
Net deferred tax liabilities	$	1,198,740	$	1,206,567

Schedule of effective income tax rates as compared to the U.S. Federal income tax rate

	Years Ended September 30,
	2014			2013			2012
U.S. Federal income tax rate		35.0	%		35.0	%		35.0	%
Effect of foreign taxes		1.2			1.1			0.7
State income taxes, net of federal tax benefit		1.4			1.5			1.4
U.S. domestic production activities		(2.6	)		(2.1	)		(1.1	)
Other		0.4			(0.2	)		0.4
Effective income tax rate		35.4	%		35.3	%		36.4	%

Schedule of reconciliation of the change in the entity's gross unrecognized tax benefits

	September 30,
	2014			2013
	(in thousands)
Unrecognized tax benefits at October 1,	$	8,129		$	8,438
Gross decreases—tax positions in prior periods		(4	)		(914	)
Gross increases—tax positions in prior periods		4,293			1,896
Gross decreases—current period effect of tax positions		(836	)		(437	)
Gross increases—current period effect of tax positions		4			147
Expiration of statute of limitations for assessments		(533	)		(562	)
Settlements		(306	)		(439	)
Unrecognized tax benefits at September 30,	$	10,747		$	8,129