Asset Retirement Obligations

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2011

Asset Retirement Obligations [Abstract]

ASSET RETIREMENT OBLIGATIONS

NOTE 12: ASSET RETIREMENT OBLIGATIONS

Asset retirement obligations (AROs) are legal obligations associated with the retirement of long-lived assets resulting from the acquisition, construction, development and/or normal use of the underlying assets.

Recognition of a liability for an ARO is required in the period in which it is incurred at its estimated fair value. The associated asset retirement costs are capitalized as part of the carrying amount of the underlying asset and depreciated over the estimated useful life of the asset. The liability is accreted through charges to operating expenses. If the ARO is settled for other than the carrying amount of the liability, we recognize a gain or loss on settlement.

We record all AROs for which we have legal obligations for land reclamation at estimated fair value. Essentially all these AROs relate to our underlying land parcels, including both owned properties and mineral leases. For the three and nine month periods ended September 30, we recognized ARO operating costs related to accretion of the liabilities and depreciation of the assets as follows:

	Three Months Ended				Nine Months Ended
	September 30				September 30
in thousands	2011		2010		2011		2010
ARO Operating Costs
Accretion		$1,894		$2,081		$6,189		$6,525
Depreciation		1,947		3,050		5,342		9,390
Total		$3,841		$5,131		$11,531		$15,915

ARO operating costs for our continuing operations are reported in cost of goods sold. AROs are reported within other noncurrent liabilities in our accompanying Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets.

Reconciliations of the carrying amounts of our AROs are as follows:

	Three Months Ended						Nine Months Ended
	September 30						September 30
in thousands	2011			2010			2011			2010
Asset Retirement Obligations
Balance at beginning of period		$160,733			$162,168			$162,730			$167,757
Liabilities incurred		1,456			1,016			1,734			2,457
Liabilities settled		(6,238	)		(4,762	)		(12,202	)		(8,879	)
Accretion expense		1,894			2,081			6,189			6,525
Revisions up (down)		139			(288	)		(467	)		(7,645	)
Balance at end of period		$157,984			$160,215			$157,984			$160,215

Revisions to our AROs during 2010 related primarily to extensions in the estimated settlement dates at numerous sites.