Employee Benefits

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2012

Compensation and Retirement Disclosure [Abstract]

Employee Benefits

EMPLOYEE BENEFITS

Net Periodic Benefit Cost

The components of the net periodic benefit cost for our pension and postretirement benefit plans are as follows:

(In Thousands)	Pension Plan						Postretirement Benefit Plan
Three Months Ended September 30,	2012			2011			2012			2011
Net periodic benefit cost
Service cost	$	1,777		$	792		$	496		$	496
Interest cost	1,263			1,190			398			398
Expected return on plan assets	(1,341		)	(1,322		)	—			—
Amortization of prior service cost	2			2			(8		)	(8		)
Amortization of net loss	1,035			592			56			56
Net periodic benefit cost	$	2,736		$	1,254		$	942		$	942

(In Thousands)	Pension Plan						Postretirement Benefit Plan
Nine Months Ended September 30,	2012			2011			2012			2011
Net periodic benefit cost
Service cost	$	3,846		$	2,375		$	1,488		$	1,489
Interest cost	3,787			3,570			1,194			1,193
Expected return on plan assets	(4,023		)	(3,966		)	—			—
Amortization of prior service cost	5			8			(24		)	(24		)
Amortization of net loss	3,311			1,776			168			168
Net periodic benefit cost	$	6,926		$	3,763		$	2,826		$	2,826

Employer Contributions

We previously disclosed in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2011 that we expected to contribute $7.0 million to the pension plan for the 2012 plan year. For the nine-month period ended September 30, 2012, we contributed $5.0 million to the pension plan. We anticipate that the total contribution for the 2012 plan year will not vary significantly from our expected contribution.

Effective July 1, 2012, the former employees of Mercer Insurance Group, Inc., became eligible to participate in our pension plan. The inclusion of these employees resulted in an additional $0.6 million of net periodic benefit cost for the three- and nine-month periods ended September 30, 2012.