ASSET RETIREMENT OBLIGATIONS

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2012

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 September 30				Nine Months Ended September 30
in thousands	2012		2011		2012		2011
ARO Operating Costs
Accretion	$	1,973	$	1,894	$	5,990	$	6,189
Depreciation		1,110		1,947		4,837		5,342
Total	$	3,083	$	3,841	$	10,827	$	11,531

ARO operating costs 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 September 30						Nine Months Ended September 30
in thousands	2012			2011			2012			2011
Asset Retirement Obligations
Balance at beginning of period		$150,413			$160,733			$153,979			$162,730
Liabilities incurred		82			1,456			127			1,734
Liabilities settled		(822	)		(6,238	)		(2,241	)		(12,202	)
Accretion expense		1,973			1,894			5,990			6,189
Revisions up (down), net		(2,923	)		139			(9,132	)		(467	)
Balance at end of period		$148,723			$157,984			$148,723			$157,984

Revisions to our asset retirement obligations during 2012 relate primarily to extensions in the estimated settlement dates at numerous sites reflecting lower level of shipments, which has the effect of extending the useful life of our operations’ reserves.