Deconsolidation of LVE Energy Partners, LLC Condensed Balance Sheets (Details) (USD $) In Thousands, unless otherwise specified	Sep. 30, 2013	Dec. 31, 2012
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Current assets	$ 324,870	$ 355,593
Property and equipment, net	3,525,546	3,587,314
Assets held for development	0	331,770
Debt financing costs, net	82,241	85,468
Restricted investments	0	21,382
Other assets	62,415	98,415
Intangible assets, net	1,083,080	1,119,638
Goodwill, net	694,929	694,929
Assets of discontinued operation	0	37,684
Total assets	5,773,081	6,332,193
Current maturities of long-term debt	29,759	61,570
Accounts payable	72,364	91,156
Accrued liabilities	362,525	363,732
Deferred income taxes and income taxes payable	0	8,129
Current maturities of non-recourse obligations of variable interest entity	0	225,113
Long-term debt, net of current maturities	4,312,984	4,827,853
Deferred income taxes	153,445	139,943
Long-term tax and other liabilities		146,706
Liabilities of discontinued operation	0	864
Common stock	1,078	869
Additional paid-in capital	894,222	655,694
Accumulated deficit	(384,734)	(351,810)
Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss)	(795)	(962)
Noncontrolling interest	200,701	163,336
Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity	5,773,081	6,332,193
Consolidated Entity Excluding Variable Interest Entities (VIE)
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Current assets		354,140
Property and equipment, net		3,587,314
Assets held for development		168,251
Debt financing costs, net		83,020
Restricted investments		0
Other assets		98,415
Intangible assets, net		1,119,638
Goodwill, net		694,929
Assets of discontinued operation		37,684
Total assets		6,143,391
Current maturities of long-term debt		61,570
Accounts payable		90,992
Accrued liabilities		355,246
Deferred income taxes and income taxes payable		8,129
Current maturities of non-recourse obligations of variable interest entity		0
Long-term debt, net of current maturities		4,827,853
Deferred income taxes		139,943
Long-term tax and other liabilities		146,706
Liabilities of discontinued operation		864
Common stock		869
Additional paid-in capital		655,694
Accumulated deficit		(351,810)
Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss)		(962)
Noncontrolling interest		208,297
Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity		6,143,391
LVE
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Current assets		1,453
Property and equipment, net		0
Assets held for development		163,519
Debt financing costs, net		2,448
Restricted investments		21,382
Other assets		0
Intangible assets, net		0
Goodwill, net		0
Assets of discontinued operation		0
Total assets		188,802
Current maturities of long-term debt		0
Accounts payable		164
Accrued liabilities		8,486
Deferred income taxes and income taxes payable		0
Current maturities of non-recourse obligations of variable interest entity		225,113
Long-term debt, net of current maturities		0
Deferred income taxes		0
Long-term tax and other liabilities		0
Liabilities of discontinued operation		0
Common stock		0
Additional paid-in capital		0
Accumulated deficit		0
Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss)		0
Noncontrolling interest	0	(44,961)
Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity		188,802
Consolidation, Eliminations Related to Variable Interest Entity
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Current assets		0
Property and equipment, net		0
Assets held for development		0
Debt financing costs, net		0
Restricted investments		0
Intangible assets, net		0
Goodwill, net		0
Assets of discontinued operation		0
Total assets		0
Accounts payable		0
Accrued liabilities		0
Deferred income taxes and income taxes payable		0
Current maturities of non-recourse obligations of variable interest entity		0
Long-term debt, net of current maturities		0
Deferred income taxes		0
Long-term tax and other liabilities		0
Liabilities of discontinued operation		0
Common stock		0
Additional paid-in capital		0
Accumulated deficit		0
Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss)		0
Noncontrolling interest		0
Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity		$ 0