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Income Taxes (Tables)

12 Months Ended

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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