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Accrued Expenses and Other Long-Term Liabilities
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2013
Accrued Expenses and Other Long-Term Liabilities [Abstract]  
ACCRUED EXPENSES AND OTHER LONG-TERM LIABILITIES
10.
ACCRUED EXPENSES AND OTHER LONG-TERM LIABILITIES
Accrued expenses and other long-term liabilities consisted of the following (in millions):
 
 
Accrued
Expenses
 
Other Long-
Term Liabilities
 
 
December 31,
 
 
2013
 
2012
 
2013
 
2012
Defined benefit plan liabilities (see Note 14)
 
$
30

 
$
32

 
$
507

 
$
982

Wage and other employee-related liabilities
 
257

 
282

 
97

 
91

Uncertain income tax position liabilities,
including related penalties and interest (see Note 16) (a)
 

 

 
205

 
391

Environmental liabilities
 
24

 
27

 
277

 
242

Accrued interest expense
 
90

 
96

 

 

Derivative liabilities
 
13

 
14

 

 

Asset retirement obligations
 
5

 
5

 
26

 
103

Other accrued liabilities
 
103

 
134

 
217

 
321

Accrued expenses and other long-term liabilities
 
$
522

 
$
590

 
$
1,329

 
$
2,130


___________________________ 
(a) As of December 31, 2013, our total liability for uncertain tax positions, including related penalties and interest, was $443 million, with $238 million classified as a current liability and reflected in “Income taxes payable” and the remaining $205 million classified as a long-term liability and reflected in “Other long-term liabilities” as detailed in this table. As of December 31, 2012, our total liability for uncertain tax positions, including related penalties and interest, was classified as a long-term liability and reflected in “Other long-term liabilities” as detailed in this table.
Environmental Liabilities
Changes in our environmental liabilities were as follows (in millions):
 
Year Ended December 31,
 
2013
 
2012
 
2011
Balance as of beginning of year
$
269

 
$
274

 
$
268

Pembroke Acquisition

 

 
30

Additions to liability
67

 
23

 
18

Reductions to liability
(1
)
 
(1
)
 
(5
)
Payments, net of third-party recoveries
(28
)
 
(29
)
 
(35
)
Separation of retail business
(4
)
 

 

Foreign currency translation
(2
)
 
2

 
(2
)
Balance as of end of year
$
301

 
$
269

 
$
274



In connection with our Pembroke Acquisition, we assumed certain environmental liabilities including, but not limited to, certain remediation obligations, site restoration costs, and certain liabilities relating to soil and groundwater remediation. There were no significant environmental liabilities assumed in connection with the Meraux Acquisition. See Note 12 for further information regarding environmental matters.
Asset Retirement Obligations
We have asset retirement obligations with respect to certain of our refinery assets due to various legal obligations to clean and/or dispose of various component parts of each refinery at the time they are retired. However, these component parts can be used for extended and indeterminate periods of time as long as they are properly maintained and/or upgraded. It is our practice and current intent to maintain our refinery assets and continue making improvements to those assets based on technological advances. As a result, we believe that our refineries have indeterminate lives for purposes of estimating asset retirement obligations because dates or ranges of dates upon which we would retire refinery assets cannot reasonably be estimated at this time. When a date or range of dates can reasonably be estimated for the retirement of any component part of a refinery, we estimate the cost of performing the retirement activities and record a liability for the fair value of that cost using established present value techniques.

Prior to the separation of our retail business, we also had asset retirement obligations for the removal of underground storage tanks (USTs) at owned and leased retail sites. There is no legal obligation to remove USTs while they remain in service. However, environmental laws in the U.S. and Canada require that unused USTs be removed within certain periods of time after the USTs are no longer in service, usually one to two years depending on the jurisdiction in which the USTs are located. We had previously estimated that USTs at our formerly owned retail sites would remain in service approximately 20 years and that we would then have an obligation to remove those USTs. For our formerly leased retail sites, our lease agreements generally required that we remove certain improvements, primarily USTs and signage, upon termination of the lease. All of the USTs and the related asset retirement obligations were retained by CST after the separation from us. Therefore, we have no asset retirement obligations in connection with the USTs subsequent to the separation of our retail business on May 1, 2013.

Changes in our asset retirement obligations were as follows (in millions).

 
Year Ended December 31,
 
2013
 
2012
 
2011
Balance as of beginning of year
$
108

 
$
87

 
$
101

Additions to accrual
2

 
14

 
3

Revisions in estimated cash flows

 
13

 
1

Accretion expense
2

 
5

 
4

Settlements
(1
)
 
(11
)
 
(22
)
Separation of retail business
(80
)
 

 

Balance as of end of year
$
31

 
$
108

 
$
87



There are no assets that are legally restricted for purposes of settling our asset retirement obligations.

One-Time Severance Benefits
As described in Note 4, we decided to reorganize the Aruba Refinery into a crude oil and refined products terminal in September 2012 resulting in a decrease in required personnel for our operations in Aruba. We notified 495 employees in September 2012 of the termination of their employment effective November 15, 2012. Benefits to each terminated employee consisted primarily of a cash payment based on a formula that considered the employee’s current compensation and years of service, among other factors. We recognized a severance liability of $41 million in September 2012, which approximated fair value. We paid $31 million of these benefits in the fourth quarter of 2012. We paid the remaining termination benefits of $10 million in the first quarter of 2013. Total severance expense of $41 million is included in refining operating expenses for the year ended December 31, 2012 and relates to our refining segment.