Annual report pursuant to Section 13 and 15(d)

Accrued Closure Costs and ARO

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Accrued Closure Costs and ARO
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2017
Asset Retirement Obligation Disclosure [Abstract]  
Accrued Closure Costs and ARO

NOTE 11

 

ACCRUED CLOSURE COSTS AND ARO

 

Accrued closure costs represent our estimated environmental liability to clean up our fixed-based regulated facilities as required by our permits, in the event of closure. Changes to reported closure liabilities for the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016, were as follows:

 

Amounts in thousands      
Balance as of December 31, 2015   $ 5,301  
Accretion expense     374  
Payments     (693 )
Adjustment to closure liability     2,333  
Balance as of December 31, 2016     7,315  
Accretion expense     460  
Payments     (2,037 )
Adjustment to closure liability     2,657  
Balance as of December 31, 2017   $ 8,395  

 

As a result of the Company’s decision to close our M&EC subsidiary, the Company recorded an additional $1,400,000 and $1,626,000 in closure liabilities in 2017 and 2016, respectively, due to changes in estimated closure costs (see “Note 3 – M&EC Facility” for further information of these additional closure liabilities recorded). The Company also recorded an additional $1,257,000 in closure liabilities in 2017 for its DSSI subsidiary due to changes in estimated closure costs. Additionally, the Company increased the closure liabilities for its PFNWR subsidiary in the amount of approximately $707,000 during 2016 resulting from a change in estimated closure costs.

 

In 2017, the Company had spending of approximately $1,872,000 and $165,000 in closure related activities for the M&EC and PFNWR subsidiaries, respectively. In 2016, the Company had spending of approximately $283,000 and $410,000 in closure related activities for the M&EC and PFNWR subsidiaries, respectively. The spending at our PFNWR facility for years 2017 and 2016 was made in connection with the closure of certain processing unit/equipment.

 

At December 31, 2017, M&EC’s closure liabilities totaled approximately $2,791,000 with the entire amount classified as current. At December 31, 2016, total accrued closure liabilities for our M&EC subsidiary totaled approximately $3,058,000 of which $2,177,000 were recorded as current liabilities.

 

The reported closure asset or ARO, is reported as a component of “Net Property and equipment” in the Consolidated Balance Sheet at December 31, 2017 and 2016 with the following activity for the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016:

 

Amounts in thousands      
Balance as of December 31, 2015   $ 2,575  
Amortization of closure and post-closure asset     (760 )
Adjustment to closure and post-closure asset     2,333  
Balance as of December 31, 2016     4,148  
Amortization of closure and post-closure asset     (1,071 )
Impairment of closure and post-closure asset     (413 )
Adjustment to closure and post-closure asset     1,257  
Balance as of December 31, 2017   $ 3,921  

  

The impairment of ARO for 2017 resulted from the impairment of M&EC’s remaining tangible assets recorded in the third quarter of 2017 (See “Note 3 – M&EC Facility”). The adjustment made to ARO for 2017 was due to the increase in closure liabilities recorded for the DSSI subsidiary as discussed above. The adjustments made to ARO for 2016 were due to the increases in closure liabilities recorded for the PFNWR and M&EC subsidiaries as discussed above.