DISCONTINUED OPERATIONS AND AFFILIATIONS

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2015

Discontinued Operations and Disposal Groups [Abstract]

DISCONTINUED OPERATIONS AND AFFILATIONS

DISCONTINUED OPERATIONS AND AFFILATIONS:

Discontinued Operations consist of the environmental remediation activities related to the properties of South Jersey Fuel, Inc. (SJF) and the product liability litigation and environmental remediation activities related to the prior business of The Morie Company, Inc. (Morie). SJF is a subsidiary of Energy & Minerals, Inc. (EMI), an SJI subsidiary, which previously operated a fuel oil business. Morie is the former sand mining and processing subsidiary of EMI. EMI sold the common stock of Morie in 1996.

SJI conducts tests annually to estimate the environmental remediation costs for these properties.

Summarized operating results of the discontinued operations for the three months endedMarch 31, 2015 and 2014, were (in thousands, except per share amounts):

	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2015			2014
Loss Before Income Taxes:
Sand Mining	$	(347	)	$	(380	)
Fuel Oil	(66		)	(102		)
Income Tax Benefits	137			169
Loss from Discontinued Operations — Net	$	(276	)	$	(313	)
Earnings (Loss) Per Common Share from
Discontinued Operations — Net:
Basic and Diluted	$	—		$	(0.01	)

AFFILIATIONS — The following affiliated entities are accounted for under the equity method:

Energenic – US, LLC (Energenic) - Marina and a joint venture partner formed Energenic, in which Marina has a 50% equity interest. Energenic develops and operates on-site, self-contained, energy-related projects.

Potato Creek, LLC (Potato Creek) - SJI and a joint venture partner formed Potato Creek, in which SJI has a 30% equity interest.  Potato Creek owns and manages the oil, gas and mineral rights of certain real estate in Pennsylvania.

During the first three months of 2015, the Company made investments in, and provided net advances to, unconsolidated affiliates of $1.7 million. During the first three months of 2014, the Company received net repayments from unconsolidated affiliates of $2.9 million.  As of March 31, 2015 and December 31, 2014, the outstanding balance on these Notes Receivable – Affiliate was $52.4 million and $51.5 million, respectively. Approximately $39.4 million of these notes are secured by property, plant and equipment of the affiliates, accrue interest at 7.5% and are to be repaid through 2025. The remaining $13.0 million of these notes are unsecured and accrue interest at variable rates.

SJI holds significant variable interests in these entities but is not the primary beneficiary. Consequently, these entities are accounted for under the equity method because SJI does not have both (a) the power to direct the activities of the entity that most significantly impact the entity’s economic performance and (b) the obligation to absorb losses of the entity that could potentially be significant to the entity or the right to receive benefits from the entity that could potentially be significant to the entity. As of March 31, 2015, the Company had a net asset of approximately $66.9 million included in Investment in Affiliates and Other Noncurrent Liabilities on the condensed consolidated balance sheets related to equity method investees, in addition to Notes Receivable – Affiliate as discussed above. SJI’s maximum exposure to loss from these entities as of March 31, 2015 is limited to its combined equity contributions and the Notes Receivable-Affiliate in the amount of $120.2 million plus the guarantees discussed in Note 11.