Cost and Fair Value Basis of Long-Term Debt

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2011

Disclosure Cost And Fair Value Basis Of Long Term Debt [Abstract]

Cost and Fair Value Basis of Long-Term Debt Text Block

7.       Cost and Fair Value Basis of Long-Term Debt

New Issuance of Long-Term Debt

On September 12, 2011, we issued $50 million of secured medium-term notes (MTNs) with an interest rate of 3.176 percent and a maturity date of September 15, 2021.

Cost of Long-Term Debt

Our long-term debt consists of secured MTNs with maturity dates from 2012 through 2035, interest rates ranging from 3.176 percent to 9.05percent, and a weighted-average coupon rate of 5.93 percent. For the nine months ended September 30, 2011, we redeemed $10 million of MTNs. For more detail on our outstanding long-term debt, see Note 7 in our 2010 Form 10-K and new issuance of long-term debt above.

Fair Value of Long-Term Debt

The following table provides an estimate of the fair value of our long-term debt, including current maturities of long-term debt, using market prices in effect on the valuation date.  Because our debt outstanding does not trade in active markets, we used interest rates ofother companiesoutstanding debt issues that actively trade and have similar credit ratings, terms and remaining maturities to estimate fair value of our long-term debt issues. These are significant other observable inputs, or level 2 inputs, in the fair value hierarchy.

	September 30,					December 31,
Thousands		2011		2010		2010
Carrying amount	$	641,700	$	636,700	$	601,700
Estimated fair value	$	774,186	$	740,731	$	690,126