Eversource 2010 Annual Report Download - page 124

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On September 27, 2010, President Obama signed into law the Small Business Jobs and Credit Act of 2010, which extends the bonus
depreciation provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to small and large businesses through 2010. This
extended stimulus provided NU with cash flow benefits of approximately $100 million.
On December 17, 2010, President Obama signed into law the 2010 Tax Act, which, among other things, provides 100 percent bonus
depreciation for tangible personal property placed in service after September 8, 2010, and through December 31, 2011. For tangible
personal property placed in service after December 31, 2011, and through December 31, 2012, the 2010 Tax Act provides for 50
percent bonus depreciation.
12. COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES
A. Environmental Matters
General: NU, CL&P, PSNH, and WMECO are subject to environmental laws and regulations intended to mitigate or remove the effect
of past operations and improve or maintain the quality of the environment. These laws and regulations require the removal or the
remedy of the effect on the environment of the disposal or release of certain specified hazardous substances at current and former
operating sites. NU, CL&P, PSNH, and WMECO have an active environmental auditing and training program and believe that they are
substantially in compliance with all enacted laws and regulations.
Environmental reserves are accrued when assessments indicate that it is probable that a liability has been incurred and an amount can
be reasonably estimated. The approach used estimates the liability based on the most likely action plan from a variety of available
remediation options, including no action required or several different remedies ranging from establishing institutional controls to full site
remediation and monitoring.
These estimates are subjective in nature as they take into consideration several different remediation options at each specific site. The
reliability and precision of these estimates can be affected by several factors, including new information concerning either the level of
contamination at the site, the extent of NU, CL&P, PSNH, and WMECO's responsibility or the extent of remediation required, recently
enacted laws and regulations or a change in cost estimates due to certain economic factors.
The amounts recorded as environmental liabilities included in Other Long-Term Liabilities on the accompanying consolidated balance
sheets represent management's best estimate of the liability for environmental costs, and take into consideration site assessment and
remediation costs. NU, CL&P, PSNH, and WMECO's environmental liability also takes into account recurring costs of managing
hazardous substances and pollutants, mandated expenditures to remediate previously contaminated sites and any other infrequent and
non-recurring clean up costs. A reconciliation of the activity in the environmental reserves is as follows:
NU CL&P PSNH WMECO
(Millions of Dollars)
Balance as of December 31, 2008 $ 27.4 $ 2.8 $ 5.5 $ 0.3
A
dditions 2.3 0.3 0.1 0.4
Payments (3.7) (0.4) (0.3) (0.3)
Balance as of December 31, 2009 26.0 2.7 5.3 0.4
A
dditions 18.2 0.5 8.9 0.1
Payments (7.1) (0.4) (5.1) (0.2)
Balance as of December 31, 2010 $ 37.1 $ 2.8 $ 9.1 $ 0.3
These liabilities are estimated on an undiscounted basis and do not assume that any amounts are recoverable from insurance
companies or other third parties. NU, CL&P, PSNH, and WMECO have not recorded any probable recoveries from third parties. The
environmental reserve includes sites at different stages of discovery and remediation and does not include any unasserted claims.
It is possible that new information or future developments could require a reassessment of the potential exposure to related
environmental matters. As this information becomes available, management will continue to assess the potential exposure and adjust
the reserves accordingly.
As of December 31, 2010, the status of environmental sites are as follows:
(Number of Sites) NU CL&P PSNH WMECO
Remediation or long-term monitoring phase 33 6 12 8
Some site assessment completed 19 9 2 1
Preliminary site assessment stage 6 2 4 -
Total environmental sites 58 17 18 9