INCOME TAXES (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2015

INCOME TAXES

Schedule of components of the provision for income taxes

	Years Ended September 30,
	2015			2014			2013
	(in thousands)
Current:
Federal	$	84,229		$	323,386		$	315,820
Foreign		16,685			15,841			14,551
State		10,881			21,197			32,916
		111,795			360,424			363,287
Deferred:
Federal		159,686			28,183			35,530
Foreign		(28,456	)		(3,265	)		(1,409	)
State		350			2,206			(4,564	)
		131,580			27,124			29,557
Total provision	$	243,375		$	387,548		$	392,844

Schedule of domestic and foreign income before income taxes

	Years Ended September 30,
	2015			2014		2013
	(in thousands)
Domestic	$	676,146		$	1,061,006	$	1,071,435
Foreign		(10,499	)		35,308		42,862
	$	665,647		$	1,096,314	$	1,114,297

Schedule of components of net deferred tax liabilities

	September 30,
	2015		2014
	(in thousands)
Deferred tax liabilities:
Property, plant and equipment	$	1,334,611	$	1,187,774
Available-for-sale securities		33,187		83,787
Other		3,928		67
Total deferred tax liabilities		1,371,726		1,271,628
Deferred tax assets:
Pension reserves		3,405		1,370
Self-insurance reserves		14,318		10,311
Net operating loss and foreign tax credit carryforwards		56,287		48,285
Financial accruals		63,560		52,289
Other		12,049		8,332
Total deferred tax assets		149,619		120,587
Valuation allowance		55,758		47,699
Net deferred tax assets		93,861		72,888
Net deferred tax liabilities	$	1,277,865	$	1,198,740

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

	Years Ended September 30,
	2015			2014			2013
U.S. Federal income tax rate		35.0	%		35.0	%		35.0	%
Effect of foreign taxes		(2.1	)		1.2			1.1
State income taxes, net of federal tax benefit		0.8			1.4			1.5
U.S. domestic production activities		(1.2	)		(2.6	)		(2.1	)
Other impact of foreign operations		3.5			0.6			(0.5	)
Other		0.6			(0.2	)		0.3
Effective income tax rate		36.6	%		35.4	%		35.3	%

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

	September 30,
	2015			2014
	(in thousands)
Unrecognized tax benefits at October 1,	$	10,747		$	8,129
Gross decreases—tax positions in prior periods		(706	)		(4	)
Gross increases—tax positions in prior periods		3,278			4,293
Gross decreases—current period effect of tax positions		(821	)		(836	)
Gross increases—current period effect of tax positions		—			4
Expiration of statute of limitations for assessments		(956	)		(533	)
Settlements		(331	)		(306	)
Unrecognized tax benefits at September 30,	$	11,211		$	10,747