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Income Taxes (Tables) | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2015
Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract] |
Components of income (loss) before income taxes | The components of income before income taxes from continuing operations for each of the years ended December 31 were as follows:
| 2015 |  | 2014 |  | 2013 |
|  | (In thousands) |  |
United States | $ | 181,623 |  | $ | 242,442 |  | $ | 242,569 |
Foreign | (1,326 | ) | (52 | ) | 416 |
Income before income taxes from continuing operations | $ | 180,297 |  | $ | 242,390 |  | $ | 242,985 |
Income tax expense (benefit) | Income tax expense from continuing operations for the years ended December 31 was as follows:
| 2015 |  | 2014 |  | 2013 |
|  | (In thousands) |  |
Current: |  |  |
Federal | $ | 59,483 |  | $ | 4,403 |  | $ | 41,624 |
State | 5,789 |  | (166 | ) | 4,148 |
Foreign | 30 |  | — |  | (29 | )
| 65,302 |  | 4,237 |  | 45,743 |
Deferred: |  |  |  |  |  |
Income taxes: |  |  |  |  |
Federal | 3,199 |  | 55,514 |  | 29,616 |
State | (2,478 | ) | 2,467 |  | (859 | )
Investment tax credit - net | (420 | ) | 1,009 |  | (206 | )
| 301 |  | 58,990 |  | 28,551 |
Total income tax expense | $ | 65,603 |  | $ | 63,227 |  | $ | 74,294 |
Deferred tax assets and deferred tax liabilities | Components of deferred tax assets and deferred tax liabilities at December 31 were as follows:
| 2015 |  | 2014 |
| (In thousands)
Deferred tax assets: |  |
Postretirement | $ | 97,666 |  | $ | 99,853 |
Compensation-related | 33,844 |  | 35,669 |
Alternative minimum tax credit carryforward | 28,173 |  | 23,678 |
Customer advances | 12,623 |  | 12,245 |
Asset retirement obligations | 8,694 |  | 7,894 |
Legal and environmental contingencies | 6,377 |  | 7,890 |
Other | 58,202 |  | 52,862 |
Total deferred tax assets | 245,579 |  | 240,091 |
Deferred tax liabilities: |  |  |  |
Depreciation and basis differences on property, plant and equipment | 791,368 |  | 773,160 |
Postretirement | 71,835 |  | 70,642 |
Intangible asset amortization | 23,950 |  | 22,810 |
Other | 36,906 |  | 46,637 |
Total deferred tax liabilities | 924,059 |  | 913,249 |
Valuation allowance | 8,990 |  | 8,852 |
Net deferred income tax liability | $ | (687,470 | ) | $ | (682,010 | )
Schedule of change in net deferred income tax liability reconciliation | The following table reconciles the change in the net deferred income tax liability from December 31, 2014, to December 31, 2015, to deferred income tax expense:
| 2015 |
(In thousands) |
Change in net deferred income tax liability from the preceding table | $ | 5,460 |
Deferred taxes associated with other comprehensive income | (3,086 | )
Other | (2,073 | )
Deferred income tax expense for the period | $ | 301 |
Reconciliation of income tax expense (benefit) at statutory federal rate versus actual rate | Total income tax expense differs from the amount computed by applying the statutory federal income tax rate to income before taxes. The reasons for this difference were as follows:
Years ended December 31, | 2015 | 2014 | 2013
| Amount |  | % |  | Amount |  | % |  | Amount |  | % |
| (Dollars in thousands)
Computed tax at federal statutory rate | $ | 63,104 |  | 35.0 |  | $ | 84,836 |  | 35.0 |  | $ | 85,045 |  | 35.0 |
Increases (reductions) resulting from: |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
State income taxes, net of federal income tax | 4,903 |  | 2.7 |  | 7,048 |  | 2.9 |  | 7,379 |  | 3.0 |
Noncontrolling interest | 12,340 |  | 6.8 |  | 1,363 |  | .5 |  | — |  | — |
Federal renewable energy credit | (3,400 | ) | (1.9 | ) | (3,655 | ) | (1.5 | ) | (3,404 | ) | (1.4 | )
Tax compliance and uncertain tax positions | (194 | ) | (.1 | ) | (8,987 | ) | (3.7 | ) | (3,902 | ) | (1.6 | )
Domestic production activities | — |  | — |  | (3,993 | ) | (1.6 | ) | (666 | ) | (.3 | )
Other | (11,150 | ) | (6.1 | ) | (13,385 | ) | (5.5 | ) | (10,158 | ) | (4.1 | )
Total income tax expense | $ | 65,603 |  | 36.4 |  | $ | 63,227 |  | 26.1 |  | $ | 74,294 |  | 30.6 |
Reconciliation of unrecognized tax benefits (excluding interest) | A reconciliation of the unrecognized tax benefits (excluding interest) for the years ended December 31 was as follows:
| 2015 |  | 2014 |  | 2013 |
|  | (In thousands) |  |
Balance at beginning of year | $ | 105 |  | $ | 7,845 |  | $ | 7,845 |
Settlements | — |  | (7,740 | ) | — |
Lapse of statute of limitations | (105 | ) | — |  | — |
Balance at end of year | $ | — |  | $ | 105 |  | $ | 7,845 |

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- Definition Tabular disclosure of the components of income tax expense attributable to continuing operations for each year presented including, but not limited to: current tax expense (benefit), deferred tax expense (benefit), investment tax credits, government grants, the benefits of operating loss carryforwards, tax expense that results from allocating certain tax benefits either directly to contributed capital or to reduce goodwill or other noncurrent intangible assets of an acquired entity, adjustments of a deferred tax liability or asset for enacted changes in tax laws or rates or a change in the tax status of the entity, and adjustments of the beginning-of-the-year balances of a valuation allowance because of a change in circumstances that causes a change in judgment about the realizability of the related deferred tax asset in future years. + References Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 740 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 9 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6907707&loc=d3e32639-109319 + Details
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- Definition Tabular disclosure of tax positions taken in the tax returns filed or to be filed for which it is more likely than not that the tax position will not be sustained upon examination by taxing authorities (i.e., uncertain tax positions) and other types of income tax contingencies, including: (1) the policy on classification of interest and penalties; (2) a tabular reconciliation of the total amounts of unrecognized tax benefits at the beginning and end of the period; the total amount(s) of: (3) unrecognized tax benefits that, if recognized, would affect the effective tax rate, and (4) interest and penalties recognized in each of the income statement and balance sheet; (5) for positions for which it is reasonably possible that the total amounts unrecognized will significantly change within 12 months of the reporting date the: (i) nature of the uncertainty, (ii) nature of the event that could occur that would cause the change, and (iii) an estimate of the range of the reasonably possible change or a statement that an estimate of the range cannot be made; and (6) a description of tax years that remain subject to examination by major tax jurisdictions. + References Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 740 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 15 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6907707&loc=d3e32718-109319 + Details
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