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Landfill and Environmental Remediation Liabilities
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2017
Landfill and Environmental Remediation Liabilities  
Landfill and Environmental Remediation Liabilities

4.    Landfill and Environmental Remediation Liabilities

Liabilities for landfill and environmental remediation costs as of December 31 are presented in the table below (in millions):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2017

 

2016

 

 

 

 

 

Environmental

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Environmental

 

 

 

 

    

Landfill

    

Remediation

    

Total

    

Landfill

    

Remediation

    

Total

Current (in accrued liabilities)

 

$

128

 

$

28

 

$

156

 

$

119

 

$

28

 

$

147

Long-term

 

 

1,547

 

 

223

 

 

1,770

  

 

1,457

 

 

218

 

 

1,675

 

 

$

1,675

 

$

251

 

$

1,926

 

$

1,576

 

$

246

 

$

1,822

 

The changes to landfill and environmental remediation liabilities for the year ended December 31, 2017 are reflected in the table below (in millions):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Environmental

 

    

Landfill

    

Remediation

December 31, 2016

 

$

1,576

 

$

246

Obligations incurred and capitalized

 

 

69

  

 

 —

Obligations settled

 

 

(105)

  

 

(21)

Interest accretion

 

 

92

  

 

 4

Revisions in estimates and interest rate assumptions (a) (b)

 

 

33

  

 

23

Acquisitions, divestitures and other adjustments

 

 

10

  

 

(1)

December 31, 2017

 

$

1,675

 

$

251


(a)

The amount reported for our landfill liabilities includes (i) a net increase of $19 million related to our year-end annual review of landfill final capping, closure and post-closure obligations and (ii) an increase of $12 million primarily for enhancements to our gas and leachate collection systems at certain closed landfills.

(b)

Our environmental remediation liabilities include $11 million of charges to adjust our subsidiary’s estimated potential share of an environmental remediation liability and related costs for a closed site in Harris County, Texas, as discussed in Note 10.

Our recorded liabilities as of December 31, 2017 include the impacts of inflating certain of these costs based on our expectations of the timing of cash settlement and of discounting certain of these costs to present value. Anticipated payments of currently identified environmental remediation liabilities, as measured in current dollars, are $28 million in 2018, $23 million in 2019, $66 million in 2020, $36 million in 2021, $11 million in 2022 and $87 million thereafter.

At several of our landfills, we provide financial assurance by depositing cash into restricted trust funds or escrow accounts for purposes of settling final capping, closure, post-closure and environmental remediation obligations. Generally, these trust funds are established to comply with statutory requirements and operating agreements. See Notes 16 and 18 for additional information related to these trusts.