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Landfill and Environmental Remediation Liabilities
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2019
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):

2019

2018

Environmental

Environmental

    

Landfill

    

Remediation

    

Total

    

Landfill

    

Remediation

    

Total

Current (in accrued liabilities)

 

$

138

$

27

$

165

$

143

$

26

$

169

Long-term

 

1,717

 

213

 

1,930

  

 

1,617

 

211

 

1,828

 

$

1,855

$

240

$

2,095

$

1,760

$

237

$

1,997

The changes to landfill and environmental remediation liabilities for the year ended December 31, 2019 are reflected in the table below (in millions):

Environmental

    

Landfill

    

Remediation

December 31, 2018

$

1,760

$

237

Obligations incurred and capitalized

 

72

  

 

Obligations settled

 

(113)

  

 

(22)

Interest accretion

 

98

  

 

4

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

 

33

  

 

21

Acquisitions, divestitures and other adjustments

 

5

  

 

December 31, 2019

$

1,855

$

240

(a)The amount reported for our landfill liabilities includes revisions in estimates resulting primarily from changes in the timing and amount of costs as well as changes in estimates of remaining airspace.
(b)The amount reported for our environmental remediation liabilities includes an increase of $11 million due to a decrease in the risk-free discount rate used to measure our liabilities from 2.75% at December 31, 2018 to 1.75% at December 31, 2019.

Our recorded liabilities as of December 31, 2019 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 $27 million in 2020, $33 million in 2021, $44 million in 2022, $34 million in 2023, $22 million in 2024 and $72 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 17 and 19 for additional information related to these trusts.