Annual report pursuant to Section 13 and 15(d)

Note 12 - Accrued Closure Costs and ARO

Note 12 - Accrued Closure Costs and ARO

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

Asset Retirement Obligation Disclosure [Text Block]

NOTE

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,

2016

and

2015,

were as follows:

Amounts in thousands
Balance as of December 31, 2014	$	5,508
Accretion expense		299
Payments		(331	)
Adjustment to closure liability		(175	)
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

As a result of the Company’s decision to close the M&EC subsidiary by

January

2018,

the Company recorded an additional

$1,626,000

in closure liabilities during the

second

quarter of

2016

due to a change in estimated closure costs (see “Note

– M&EC Facility” for further information of this additional closure liability). The Company also increased the closure liabilities for its PFNWR facility in the amount of approximately

$707,000

resulting from a change in estimated closure costs. In

2016,

the Company had spendings of approximately

$283,000

and

$410,000

in closure related activities for the M&EC and PFNWR subsidiaries, respectively. The spendings at PFNWR facility were made in connection with the closure of certain processing unit/equipment.

As of

December

31,

2016,

total accrued closure liabilities for our M&EC subsidiary totaled approximately

$3,058,000

of which

$2,177,000

are recorded as current liabilities.

The decreases in closure liabilities in

2015

included approximately

$331,000

of costs incurred in connection with the closure of processing unit/equipment at our PFNWR facility and a reduction of approximately

$175,000

in closure liabilities at our PFNWR facility resulting from a change in estimated closure costs.

The reported closure asset or ARO, is reported as a component of “Net Property and equipment” in the Consolidated Balance Sheet for the years ended

December

31,

2016

and

2015

as follows:

Amounts in thousands
Balance as of December 31, 2014	$	2,870
Amortization of closure and post-closure asset		(152	)
Adjustment to closure and post-closure asset		(143	)
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

The adjustment to the ARO for

2016

was due to the adjustment made to our closure liability as discussed above.